Increased prevalence of the COVID-19 associated Neanderthal mutations in the Central European Roma population.
Ann Hum Biol
; 51(1): 2341727, 2024 Feb.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38771659
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and subsequent COVID-19 has spread world-wide and become pandemic with about 7 million deaths reported so far. Interethnic variability of the disease has been described, but a significant part of the differences remain unexplained and may be attributable to genetic factors.AIM:
To analyse genetic factors potentially influencing COVID-19 susceptibility and severity in European Roma minority. SUBJECTS ANDMETHODS:
Two genetic determinants, within OAS-1 (2-prime,5-prime-oligoadenylate synthetase 1, a key protein in the defence against viral infection; it activates RNases that degrade viral RNAs; rs4767027 has been analysed) and LZTFL1 (leucine zipper transcription factor-like 1, expressed in the lung respiratory epithelium; rs35044562 has been analysed) genes were screened in a population-sample of Czech Roma (N = 302) and majority population (N = 2,559).RESULTS:
For both polymorphisms, Roma subjects were more likely carriers of at least one risky allele for both rs4767027-C (p < 0.001) and rs35044562-G (p < 0.00001) polymorphism. There were only 5.3% Roma subjects without at least one risky allele in comparison with 10.1% in the majority population (p < 0.01).CONCLUSIONS:
It is possible that different genetic background plays an important role in increased prevalence of COVID-19 in the Roma minority.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Roma
/
Neanderthals
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Animals
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Ann Hum Biol
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Czech Republic
Publication country:
ENGLAND
/
ESCOCIA
/
GB
/
GREAT BRITAIN
/
INGLATERRA
/
REINO UNIDO
/
SCOTLAND
/
UK
/
UNITED KINGDOM