Scientists have identified a gene that doubles the risk of respiratory failure and death from COVID-19, which might explain why people of south Asian heritage are more vulnerable to the disease.
The gene, which changes the way the lungs respond to infection, is the most important genetic risk factor identified so far and is carried by about 60 percent of people with south Asian backgrounds, compared with 15 percent of those with white European backgrounds.
The finding could partly explain the excess deaths seen in some communities in the UK and the impact of COVID-19 in the Indian subcontinent.
Photo: Reuters
James Davies, a geneticist at the University of Oxford’s Radcliffe Department of Medicine who coauthored the paper, said: “The genetic factor we have found explains why some people get very seriously ill after coronavirus infection. There’s a single gene that confers quite a significant risk to people of south Asian background.”
However, other scientists cautioned that the findings needed further confirmation and that genetic explanations should not overshadow other potentially more significant socioeconomic risk factors faced by minorities in the UK, including workplace exposure and unequal access to healthcare.
The study builds on previous work that identified a large chunk of DNA that appeared to influence how severely ill people become from COVID-19, based on genetic sequencing of tens of thousands of hospital patients in the UK and other countries.
The study homed in on a single gene called LZTHL1, which was revealed to double the risk of respiratory failure and death.
The gene, which was previously unstudied, was found to act as a switch to turn on a crucial defense mechanism that prevents SARS-CoV-2 from entering epithelial cells that line the lungs.
With the high-risk version of the gene, this response was blunted, meaning that the virus would continue entering, infecting and damaging cells in the lungs for a longer period after exposure.
“Although we cannot change our genetics, our results show that the people with the higher-risk gene are likely to particularly benefit from vaccination,” Davies said. “Since the genetic signal affects the lung rather than the immune system, it means that the increased risk should be cancelled out by the vaccine.”
Davies said the findings also pointed to the possibility of new treatments targeting the lung cells’ response.
Most current treatments work by changing the way the immune system responds to the virus. The findings could offer some explanation for why south Asian populations have been worst affected in the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the UK’s second COVID-19 wave, British Office for National Statistics data showed a risk of death three to four times higher for people of Bangladeshi backgrounds, 2.5 to three times higher for those of Pakistani backgrounds and 1.5 to two times higher for Indian backgrounds compared with the general population.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
UPGRADED MISSILE: The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology is reportedly to conduct a live-fire test of the Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile on Thursday next week The US Army is planning to build new facilities to boost explosives production and strengthen its supply chain, a move aimed at addressing munitions shortages and supporting obligations to partners including Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel, Defense News reported. The army has issued a sources sought notice for a proposed Center of Excellence at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, the report said. The facility would serve as a hub within the US industrial base for the production of key military explosives, including research department explosives (RDX) and high melting explosives (HMX), while also supporting research and development of next-generation materials. The proposed
SOUTH KOREA DISPUTE: If Seoul continues to ignore its request, Taiwan would change South Korea’s designation on its arrival cards, the foreign ministry said If South Korea does not reply appropriately to a request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, the government would take corresponding measures to change how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. Taipei has asked Seoul to change the wording. Since March 1, South Koreans who hold government-issued Alien Resident Certificates (ARC) have been identified as from “South Korea” rather than the “Republic of Korea,” the
RSS