Cargando…
How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-associated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been the subject of a large number of studies in recent times. Here, starting from the evidence that in Italy, the areas with the lowest number of COVID-19 cases were those with t...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8107224/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33981715 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.650231 |
_version_ | 1783689912235589632 |
---|---|
author | Rusmini, Marta Uva, Paolo Amoroso, Antonio Tolomeo, Manlio Cavalli, Andrea |
author_facet | Rusmini, Marta Uva, Paolo Amoroso, Antonio Tolomeo, Manlio Cavalli, Andrea |
author_sort | Rusmini, Marta |
collection | PubMed |
description | Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-associated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been the subject of a large number of studies in recent times. Here, starting from the evidence that in Italy, the areas with the lowest number of COVID-19 cases were those with the highest incidence of malaria in the early 1900's, we explore possible inverse relationships between malaria and COVID-19. Indeed, some genetic variants, which have been demonstrated to give an advantage against malaria, can also play a role in the incidence and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections (e.g., the ACE2 receptor). To verify this scientific hypothesis, we here use public data from whole-genome sequencing (WGS) experiments to extrapolate the genetic information of 46 world populations with matched COVID-19 data. In particular, we focus on 47 genes, including ACE2 and genes which have previously been reported to play a role in malaria. Only common variants (>5%) in at least 30% of the selected populations were considered, and, for this subset, we correlate the intra-population allele frequency with the COVID-19 data (cases/million inhabitants), eventually pinpointing meaningful variants in 6 genes. This study allows us to distinguish between positive and negative correlations, i.e., variants whose frequency significantly increases with increasing or decreasing COVID-19 cases. Finally, we discuss the possible molecular mechanisms associated with these variants and advance potential therapeutic options, which may help fight and/or prevent COVID-19. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8107224 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-81072242021-05-11 How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19 Rusmini, Marta Uva, Paolo Amoroso, Antonio Tolomeo, Manlio Cavalli, Andrea Front Med (Lausanne) Medicine Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-associated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been the subject of a large number of studies in recent times. Here, starting from the evidence that in Italy, the areas with the lowest number of COVID-19 cases were those with the highest incidence of malaria in the early 1900's, we explore possible inverse relationships between malaria and COVID-19. Indeed, some genetic variants, which have been demonstrated to give an advantage against malaria, can also play a role in the incidence and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections (e.g., the ACE2 receptor). To verify this scientific hypothesis, we here use public data from whole-genome sequencing (WGS) experiments to extrapolate the genetic information of 46 world populations with matched COVID-19 data. In particular, we focus on 47 genes, including ACE2 and genes which have previously been reported to play a role in malaria. Only common variants (>5%) in at least 30% of the selected populations were considered, and, for this subset, we correlate the intra-population allele frequency with the COVID-19 data (cases/million inhabitants), eventually pinpointing meaningful variants in 6 genes. This study allows us to distinguish between positive and negative correlations, i.e., variants whose frequency significantly increases with increasing or decreasing COVID-19 cases. Finally, we discuss the possible molecular mechanisms associated with these variants and advance potential therapeutic options, which may help fight and/or prevent COVID-19. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-26 /pmc/articles/PMC8107224/ /pubmed/33981715 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.650231 Text en Copyright © 2021 Rusmini, Uva, Amoroso, Tolomeo and Cavalli. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Medicine Rusmini, Marta Uva, Paolo Amoroso, Antonio Tolomeo, Manlio Cavalli, Andrea How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19 |
title | How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19 |
title_full | How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19 |
title_fullStr | How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19 |
title_full_unstemmed | How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19 |
title_short | How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19 |
title_sort | how genetics might explain the unusual link between malaria and covid-19 |
topic | Medicine |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8107224/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33981715 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.650231 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT rusminimarta howgeneticsmightexplaintheunusuallinkbetweenmalariaandcovid19 AT uvapaolo howgeneticsmightexplaintheunusuallinkbetweenmalariaandcovid19 AT amorosoantonio howgeneticsmightexplaintheunusuallinkbetweenmalariaandcovid19 AT tolomeomanlio howgeneticsmightexplaintheunusuallinkbetweenmalariaandcovid19 AT cavalliandrea howgeneticsmightexplaintheunusuallinkbetweenmalariaandcovid19 |