Which biomarkers can help predict severe COVID-19?
The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has led to over 119 million confirmed cases and over 2.6 million deaths so far. Even as vaccines are being rolled out in many countries, supply challenges and cold-chain obstacles are likely to slow down the pace of universal immunization, favoring the emergence of novel vaccine-resistant strains.
The ability to detect potentially fatal illness early on in the course of the disease would enable a swift prioritization of these high-risk individuals for treatment. A new preprint on the
medRxiv server presents an array of biomarkers that may help achieve this laudable goal.
Cardiometabolic risk factors for COVID-19 susceptibility and severity: A Mendelian randomization analysis
Aaron Leong , Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft
Affiliations Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, Division of General Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, Programs in Metabolism and Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America, Diabetes Unit and Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation,
Neanderthal gene can confer protection against severe COVID-19, finds study
Some of the genes in the human genome appear to confer a protective effect against severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A new paper published online in the journal
PNAS describes genes involved in innate immunity that have undergone variations between different human subgroups.
Infectious disease and genetic changes
Infectious diseases vary in prevalence with environmental conditions, which vary dramatically in different parts of the world. These act as selective factors on gene variants, such as the toll-like receptor gene variants that reduce the susceptibility to some bacterial infections and allergies.
A genomic region associated with protection against severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neandertals pnas.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pnas.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
COVID-19 One Year Later: The Biology and the Business
As the world hits the one-year anniversary of COVID-19, GEN looks at the work being done to combat the pandemic
January 8, 2021
As this image shows, the SARS-CoV-2 virion is studded with proteins, one of which is the so-called spike protein. The spike, which consists of two subunits, S1 and S2, took center stage early in the COVID-19 pandemic and has become a key component in the development of vaccines and therapeutics. [Design Cells/Getty Images]
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The days are long, but the years are short.” This bittersweet saying, which is often shared with new parents, may apply to everyone who has been living through the COVID-19 pandemic although what we’re experiencing is almost entirely bitter and not at all sweet. Over the past 12 months, SARS-CoV-2, an RNA virus that carries a mere 29,903 nucleotides, has devastated our communities, disabling economies and taking far too many lives. However, as we hit the grim one-year ann