The study, published in the scientific journal Human Molecular Genetics, demonstrates the existence of new genetic variants that influence the evolution of COVID-19

The research staff of the Genomics Area of the Institute of Technology and Renewable Energies (ITER), dependent of the Cabildo de Tenerife, has participated in a research study that has achieved new results on the genetic mutations that determine the severity of COVID-19.

The study, which helps to understand possible complications associated with this disease, is part of the international SCOURGE project, which gathers institutions from Spain and Latin America, including ITER´s Genomics Area.

This study, which has been developed for more than two years, has delivered the severity of the disease and its clinical variability between sexes and ages

The results of this study, that has been developed for more than two years, results identifying new genes that explain the severity of the disease and its clinical variability between sexes and ages, have been published in the scientific journal Human Molecular Genetics and has been carried out thanks to the funding of the COVID-19 Fund of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), that in 2020 financed more than 130 projects related to COVID-19, as well as with various resources launched through the initiative “Apuestas Científicas del ITER para colaborar en la lucha contra la COVID-19”.

Specifically, the team of researchers has demonstrated the existence of various genetic variants that influence the evolution of COVID-19, some of them unevenly in men and women, and how their effect is more obvious in the group of men under 60 years of age. These results are in line with data from previous studies where that identified the existence of X-linked mutations that are a cause of severe COVID-19 that only affects young men.

The study has been coordinated by Dr. Carlos Flores, scientific head of the Genomics Area and principal investigator of the Genetic Variation and Sickness Group of the Canarian Healthcare Research Institute of the Canary Islands attached to the Research Unit of the Hospital Ntra. Sra. de Candelaria; Dr. Ángel Carracedo, of the Galician Public Foundation of Xenomic Medicine and CIMUS-University of Santiago de Compostela; and Dr. Pablo Lapunzina, of the University Hospital La Paz-IDIPAZ, all of them researchers of the Center for Biomedical Research in Network, CIBER. 

The authors of this work have studied for two years the genome of 11,939 cases of COVID-19 from all over Spain with extensive clinical information of the affected people, and in this research they have focused on patients from 34 Spanish hospitals recruited between March and December 2020. In addition, joint analyses have been carried out with genomic data from the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and the international COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative (HGI) consortium.

The results of this study will help determine the risk of severe COVID-19, identify possible associated complications and advance the discovery of targets for new treatments.

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