Genes associated with high risk of severe COVID-19
Scientists from PrecisionLife have found 68 genes associated with risk of developing severe COVID-19 by using its proprietary AI-enabled precision medicine platform to analyse the genomes of 929 patients who had a severe response to SARS-CoV-2.
Prior to an effective and widely available vaccine, PrecisionLife’s insights may help to identify patients who are at greatest risk of developing the most severe forms of COVID-19. They can inform the development of biomarker-driven tests, targeted shielding and new therapeutic strategies, with the aim of identifying high-risk people, reducing disease burden and improving survival rates.
Established genome-wide association studies (GWAS) approaches have been limited by the heterogeneous nature of COVID-19, making it difficult to explain the wide range of symptoms and impacts of predisposing co-morbidities associated with the disease. The study has overcome this barrier by evaluating combinations of genetic features, which is not possible with existing GWAS approaches.
Using a combinatorial (high-order epistasis) analysis approach, PrecisionLife identified 68 protein-coding genes that were highly associated with severe COVID-19, nine of which have been previously linked to differential response to SARS-CoV-2. These 68 genes include several protein targets and pathways, nine of which are targeted by drugs that have reached at least phase I clinical trials.
The graphic represents the disease architecture of the severe COVID-19 patient population generated by the PrecisionLife platform. Each circle represents a disease-associated SNP genotype in patients, and colours represent distinct patient subpopulations.
Other News
Featured Supplier
The British In Vitro Diagnostics Association represents the IVD Industry in the UK, to Government, professional bodies, the public, and at MedTech Europe. Giving support to members on regulatory issues, BIVDA also promotes the clinical and cost utility of IVDs in the provision of effective healthcare, both in acute diagnosis and in the prediction...
