Do innate immune system SNPs increase the risk of severe SARS-CoV-2?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Rapid detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in human innate genes IFITM3 and ATG16L1 to identify people with an increased risk of a severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.
IRAS ID
293235
Contact name
Charlotte Dixon
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 5 months, 5 days
Research summary
The SARS-CoV-2 virus has spread globally, since 2019, causing the COVID-19 pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 has shown to infect individuals of any age, with severe infections possibly resulting in death. How SARS-CoV-2 affects an individual depends on a number of factors, including their immune system. For some individuals, the response may result in an overreaction of the immune system, known as a ‘cytokine storm’.
Cytokines are one of the weapons the body produces to fight invading infections. However, if the body releases too many of them at one time, they can get out of control. Therefore, instead of fighting the invading pathogen only, they also begin to destroy healthy tissue too, leading to death in some cases.
This project will investigate whether particular variations in the type of genes an individual has increases the likelihood that they might experience a cytokine storm as a result of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Once we can establish if genes play a part in producing an over-reaction of the immune system, we will be able to identify individuals who could be at risk. Our study could indicate if additional groups of people would benefit from vaccination and could also help us understand why otherwise young healthy patients suffer with a severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Susceptibility to a severe SARS-CoV-2 infection could be due to a genetic component not working properly. There have been studies suggesting that there is an association with severe SARS-CoV-2 in a gene variant of IFITM3. The work done in our laboratory also indicates that a genetic variant in another gene, ATG16L1, could also predispose individuals to cytokine storms uponn infection.
This project will ask whether patients being tested for SARS-CoV-2 have gene variants in common. To do this we will need to take swabs from the nose, the cheek and also blood samples from select individuals.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/YH/0091
Date of REC Opinion
24 May 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion