The COVID-19 virus, which caused the global pandemic of COVID-19, is strangely and sadly selective. The first is the presence of asymptomatic infection, which means that only a part of the infected people are sick. At the same time, it exhibits the characteristics of bullying and fearing hardness. Most of the severely ill and even the dead are elderly or have complicated problems such as heart disease. But there are also some cases of death that cannot be ignored are young people who were once in good health. Researchers are now stepping up their efforts to analyze the patient’s genome to find a DNA cause that could explain this strange problem. These findings can be used to find people who are most likely to have serious consequences after illness and those who might be genetically protected, and such results can also help guide the treatment process.
This project includes ongoing DNA research on thousands of participants, some of whom are now infected with the COVID-19 virus. The researchers’ new job is to collect the COVID-19 virus from hard-hit areas such as Italy. Patient’s DNA. The purpose of the project is to compare the DNA of patients with severe COVID-19 who have no underlying disease such as diabetes, heart disease or lung disease to those with mild or no disease. Andrea Ganna, a geneticist at the Institute of Molecular Medicine (FIMM) at the University of Helsinki, said: “We see very large differences in clinical results and between countries. Genetic susceptibility can explain how much of this is a very open question. ”
Some researchers say that it is difficult to predict what these gene searches will find, but there are still some obvious doubts, such as the gene encoding the cell surface protein angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). It enters the airway cells. Immunologist Philip Murphy of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that mutations in the receptor’s ACE2 gene could make it easier or harder for the virus to enter cells, and his experiment found a name in another human cell surface protein A relatively common mutation in CCR5, this mutation makes some people highly resistant to HIV.
Ghana is working to integrate genetic data from patients with COVID-19 from around the world, saying that “about 2 weeks ago, this idea came naturally.” He and FIMM Director Mark Daly quickly created a website for their project, the COVID-19 Host Genetics Program, and reached out to colleagues doing a large biobank study that tracked thousands of volunteers For years to find the link between their DNA and health. They have at least a dozen biobanks, mainly in Europe and the Americas, and Ghana and his colleagues expect to collect data on the COVID-19 virus from these biobanks.
These biobanks include FinnGen, which holds 5% of DNA samples and health data from a population of 5 million in Finland; and the British Biobank, one of the world’s largest biological databases, with DNA data for 500,000 participants, This month plans to add participants’ COVID-19 virus health data to its database; Iceland’s deCODE Genetics is helping a large part of the country’s population to conduct tests to find infected people. The company has obtained permission from the Icelandic government to add this data and any subsequent symptoms of the COVID-19 virus to its database. The company’s CEO, Kári Stefánsson, said the data covered half of Iceland’s 364,000 inhabitants, and said: “We will do our best to contribute to solving this problem.”
Another study to identify protective or susceptible DNA variants is the Personal Genome Project, led by Harvard’s George Church, which recruits people willing to share their complete genomes, tissue samples, and health data for research. Earlier this month, it sent questionnaires to thousands of participants asking about their health and exposure to the COVID-19 virus, and 600 questionnaires had been retrieved within 48 hours. “It seems most people want to do their part,” Church said. Church’s team has not yet worked with Ghana.
Other researchers who plan to collaborate with Ghana are recruiting COVID-19 patients directly in the hospital for such genomics studies. Alessandra Renieri, an Italian geneticist at the University of Siena, predicts that at least 11 hospitals across Italy are willing to give her team ethical approval to collect DNA samples from willing patients. “I think host genetic differences … are key factors in susceptibility to severe acute pneumonia,” Rainier said.
Jean-Lauent Casanova, a pediatric researcher at Rockefeller University who specializes in rare genes that make healthy young people more vulnerable to some serious diseases, is using the network of pediatricians around the world to find young people with severe COVID-19. He explained that the reason for studying this is because their genes may be more hereditary.
In addition to the genetic variation of the ACE2 receptor, scientists also want to know whether differences in human leukocyte antigen genes can affect the immune system’s response to viruses and bacteria, thereby affecting the severity of the disease. The Chinese research team also made a new finding: people with blood type O are less likely to be infected with the COVID-19 virus. The catastrophic spread of the COVID-19 virus will soon increase the number of patients available for gene search, which will speed up research. Ghana hopes to identify the first susceptible gene within months.