Two recent papers by Brazilian researchers have contributed to the scientific understanding of the genetic factors that protect people against infection by SARS-CoV-2 or prevent progression to severe COVID-19.
One reports the results of a study involving a group of resilient older people aged 90 or more, and the other analyzes a case of severe COVID-19 in identical twins, only one of whom suffered from long-term symptoms of the disease.
Since 2020, researchers in several countries, including Brazil, have been looking for genes that confer protection against the novel coronavirus, either preventing infection or avoiding progression to severe disease, in the hope that this knowledge will make a vital contribution to the development of vaccines and treatments for viral diseases.
"If we can really prove that some genes promote resistance to SARS-CoV-2, the same may also be true for other viruses. More research can then be based on these findings to try to understand the mechanisms underlying this resilience and develop medications that enhance protection against viral infections," Mayana Zatz, and lead author of the articles published in "Frontiers in" journals, told Agência FAPESP.
Zatz is Professor of Human and Medical Genetics at the University of São Paulo's Institute of Biosciences (IB-USP), and heads the Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center (HUG-CELL), one of FAPESP's Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs).
In one of the studies, the scientists set out to identify genes conferring resistance to SARS-CoV-2 and understand the mechanisms involved in two extremes: elderly people who were resilient to the disease even when they had co-morbidities; and younger people without co-morbidities who developed very severe COVID-19, even dying in some cases.
In one study, the researchers analyzed data sets for a cohort of 87 "resilient super-agers" -; patients over 90 who recovered from mild COVID-19 or remained asymptomatic after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. Their average age was 94. One woman was 114 at the time of the study and was considered the oldest patient to have recovered from the disease in Brazil.
They compared the data for these patients…
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