The results of international studies involving Polish scientists from the Medical University of Bialystok (MUB) have been published in the journal “Nature”. They indicate which genetic factors may influence the severe course of COVID-19 disease.
Dr Karolina Chwiałkowska, a researcher from the Center for Bioinformatics and Data Analysis of the Medical University of Bialystok and Alexander Teumer from the Department of Population Medicine and Prevention of Civilization Diseases of the Medical University of Bialystok, together with nearly 3,500 scientists from over 1,200 world scientific and clinical organizations, have been conducting research since March 2020 to answer the question: what genetic factors may affect the fact that in some COVID-19 patients the virus develops a severe, life-threatening illness requiring hospitalization, while others suffer from mild symptoms, or have no symptoms?
The ‘COVID-19 Host Genomics Initiative’ project highlighted three variants of the FOXP4, DPP9 and TYK2 genes that affect the immune system’s response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. It was also confirmed that smoking and excessive body weight play an important role.
