Germline rare variants of lectin pathway genes predispose to asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in elderly individuals.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Emerging evidence suggest that infection-dependent hyperactivation of complement system (CS) may worsen COVID-19 outcome. We investigated the role of predicted high impact rare variants - referred as qualifying variants (QVs) - of CS genes in predisposing asymptomatic COVID-19 in elderly individuals, known to be more susceptible to severe disease.

Methods

Exploiting exome sequencing data and 56 CS genes, we performed a gene-based collapsing test between 164 asymptomatic subjects (aged ≥60 years) and 56,885 European individuals from the Genome Aggregation Database. We replicated this test comparing the same asymptomatic individuals with 147 hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Results

We found an enrichment of QVs in 3 genes (MASP1, COLEC11, and COLEC10), which

SUBMITTER: D'Alterio G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9068606 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature