The trail of genetic particularities explaining certain serious forms of Covid-19 is becoming clearer. And it could allow the use of existing treatments for other pathologies.
- Eight common genetic sequences have been identified in patients with severe Covid
- They play a role in the expression of proteins for which inhibitory treatments already exist or are being tested
Age, the presence of comorbidities, the fact of being a man rather than a woman, and genetic particularities: this is the formidable cocktail that can announce the development of a serious form of the disease for infected people. by the new coronavirus. British researchers confirmed on December 11 that they had identified eight genetic sequences common to patients with a severe form of Covid-19. Their study, published in the journal Natureannounces on the other hand that this discovery could open the way to new treatments.
The genetic track already mentioned
This is not the first time that the track of the responsibility of genetic singularities in the degree of severity of the disease is mentioned. In the fall of 2020, a Franco-American study had already identified a common point in people affected by severe Covid, a defect in the activity of type 1 interferons, molecules which participate in the functioning of the immune system and which, for genetic reasons, are produced in fewer numbers. According to this study, 15% of patients with severe forms are due to this particularity.
In their new study, researchers from the University of Edinburgh analyzed the genome of more than 2,000 Britons suffering from severe Covid. It was by comparing these analyzes with those of the genome of other people that they found the existence of these eight sequences found in all patients who had developed a severe form of Covid-19. In particular, they isolated two genes, TYK2 and CCR2, which encode the proteins involved in the immune system’s response to infection with the new coronavirus.
Possible treatments
But this time, this discovery also brings its share of hope: there is indeed a drug that can inhibit the TYK2 protein and trials are underway on synthetic antibodies to combat the action of the CCR2 protein. “What is exciting in this study is that we have identified genes that are directly relevant from a therapeutic point of view, which can lead us to treatments”, also underlined the main author of this work, Kenneth Baillie.
Drugs that inhibit TYK2, Janus Kinase (JAK) inhibitors, are already used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease.
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