Direct Latest news about the coronavirus
Six waves, more than eleven million infected in Spain and more than 80,000 confirmed reinfected cases (in addition to another almost 60,000 possible) and there are many people who, despite having high exposure to the virus, have not contracted the infection.
What internal mystery do these super-resistant to SARS-CoV-2 hide?
Even in this
last sixth wave
, and despite the presence of
omicron
-one of the viral variants considered more contagious than other highly transmissible pathogens, such as measles-, they have not been infected,
they remain virgins for the coronavirus
compared to other people who, Regardless of risk factors such as age or previous health status, they fell ill with covid-19, suffered from its
most severe forms, and even died
.
The
answers to this unknown factor
that the international scientific community is considering
are multiple
and seem to involve individual immunity, but especially the
genetics of each person
, whose peculiarities would act as a shield against SARS-CoV-2, giving the organism a higher status. of hyperimmunity.
The potential
power of genes
in the development and severity of the covid-19 disease and its influence on immune responses has been in the spotlight since the
first months of the pandemic
.
In a paper published in Nature Immunology, the French immunologist and pediatrician
Jean-Laurent Casanova
, director of the Laboratory that is shared between the Rockefeller University in New York and the Necker Children's Hospital in Paris, pointed out that "the genetic panorama of an individual in particular and of a population in general seemed to play a
fundamental role in shaping
the dynamics of Covid-19.
It proposed "up to
three
potentially important genetic gateways for covid-19 infection and that could explain, at least in part, the discrepancies in its spread, severity and mortality", referring to genetic alterations that reduce a
type of interferon
involved in immunity and are associated with
severe viral disease
.
Moreover , this renowned world expert told Diario Médico that
the covid-19 multisystem inflammatory syndrome
(MIS-C) that seriously affects some
children
also has a genetic explanation.
Although the data is expected to be published this year, "the answer is yes.
There is a genetic cause and, at least in some children
, MIS-C appears due to congenital errors," Casanova advanced.
These and other early investigations justified the
creation and development
, in March 2020 and driven by geneticists and immunologists, of the COVIDHGE (COVID Human Genetic Effort) International Consortium,
led by Casanova
, whose first project was to specify how
genetics
could help understand cases extremes of severity:
young people without comorbidities who died
or, in the best of cases, required assistance in intensive care units (ICU) with the need for assisted mechanical ventilation.
The starting hypothesis, later confirmed in various investigations, is that up to
5% of severe cases
were due to
mutations in the interferon genes
, according to a study in Science.
Another
10% was associated
with the presence of
autoantibodies against interferon
, the line of defense knocked out or by genetic mutations or by blockages by the antibodies themselves, indicated data from another study also published in Science.
These enlightening results constitute a new starting point for the researchers that make up this international consortium.
Can genetics also clarify why there are people who are super-resistant to SARS-CoV-2?
"In reality, they are two sides of the same coin: applying genomic medicine to understand
side A, young people
,
without previous pathology and who have severe disease
, and
side B
,
those who are overexposed to the virus
(sleep for a week with their partners who have tested positive, do not use the protection of the mask or any other preventive measure) and
do not get infected
.
Could the key be in their genes?
This is the answer that we are going to analyse", explains the geneticist
Aurora Pujol
, professor Icrea, group leader at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (Idibell), in Barcelona, and
coordinator in Spain
of the international COVIDHGE Consortium (COVID Human Genetic Effort ) for the
study subgroup of people resistant
to covid-19.
This subproject is coordinated by
Andras Spaan
, a clinical microbiologist at the universities of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, and Rockefeller, in the United States, within the Casanova laboratory, and
director for Europe of the COVIDHGE
.
In
Spain
, the development of the international clinical trial on hyperimmunity also includes the participation of
Jesús Troya
, from the Internal Medicine Service of the Infanta Leonor University Hospital, in Madrid, and
Carlos Rodríguez-Gallego
, of the Dr. Negrín University Hospital of Gran Canaria. , and
member of the COVIDHGE
.
At this time, the members of the aforementioned consortium, which represent
more than 40 international centers
, have recruited 1,000 volunteers -in Spain more than 100- and
it is expected to reach more than 5,000
;
men and women from the age of 18, in whom there is no trace of SARS-CoV-2 in their cells.
These are people who have had
risk exposures
for SARS-CoV2 in the home environment with regular cohabitants or in the professional setting -mostly healthcare-, but in whom
an active infection has not been detected
at any time during the pandemic.
In them, the existence of covid-19 has been ruled out with a
negative PCR and they have presented negative antibodies in the following four weeks
: negative IgM and IgG serological test.
An important aspect of this clinical trial, whose first conclusions could be obtained
in the next six months
, is that data are collected from
different populations and ethnic groups
that "may be genetically dependent on one pathway or another and thus offer clarifying data", considers Pujol, not only about the
global percentage of people super
-resistant to this coronavirus but, and more importantly, about the
mechanisms and molecular pathways involved
in this phenomenon.
Genetic polymorphisms
could also be found
, which influence but do not determine, similar to those detected in severe cases.
genetic lottery
According to Jesús Troya, an expert who
verified the presence of neutralizing autoantibodies for interferon
in patients with severe covid-19 pneumonia in a study carried out at his hospital and published in the Clinical Journal of Immunology, as occurs with all pathogens, a certain percentage of the population is
refractory to the development of the infection
.
"Usually, the phenomenon is conditioned by
genetic mutations
that express genes of various kinds."
In
covid-19
, they would be cell receptors that could be related to
the chemokine pathway
, as hypothesized in a study published in Nature.
In the specific case of those
super-resistant to SARS-CoV-2
, and in that of other infections, "what, initially, genetics has generated as an abnormal transformation in a person,
can become a benefit
. In genetics of the general population can be considered as something abnormal. But, in individual cases it can become or suppose an
adaptive benefit
", explains Troya, who gives another clear example: "If the pandemic had been
Ebola
, it would have decimated the world population, but
some subgroup would have survived
.
It's what we call a genetic lottery for a certain type of infection or other disease."
key and lock
To try to explain why some people are resistant to the development of the infection, Pujol and Troya use the
example of the key and the lock
;
you want to open your neighbor's door lock with your door key.
Logically, it does not open.
Each key needs its door
.
According to Pujol, who is also an expert in Neurology, Rare Diseases and the Nervous System, in side B of this international trial, the one
referring to resistance to SARS-CoV-2
, the interferon pathway, key in patients who seriously ill, but due to contrary factors: here, instead of not having a defense, what could be happening is that
the entrance door of the virus is blocked
.
"The virus, when it tries to join the cells to invade, has to enter through a door and it turns out that, in the case of the resistant ones,
the lock on this door is broken
. The key that the virus uses to penetrate the vast majority of people have broken locks on the resisters".
The international scientific community has already identified some of the entry receptors for the virus, such as the
famous and first suspect ACE2
, which, however, does not seem to work alone since other proteins could be involved.
This is, therefore, the first hypothesis of the work: the locks of the entrance door are altered,
the
door is armored and the virus cannot enter
.
"Understanding how this lock works is essential because, based on this understanding,
we will be able to design drugs that simulate this modified lock
that prevents the virus from penetrating cells," considers Pujol, who does not hesitate to stress that
genomics is essential to reveal this mystery.
Conforms to The Trust Project criteria
Know more
covid 19
Coronavirus
Infectious diseases
HealthThe genetic marker that predisposes to severe Covid protects against HIV
Health The coronavirus epidemic is triggered in Denmark: "We must achieve normality without precipitating it by Royal Decree"
Covid-19New genetic clues link the origin of Covid-19 to bats
See links of interest
Last News
Topics
Work calendar 2022
Time change
best colleges
Davis Cup, live: Roberto Bautista - Gabi Adrian Boitan
Davis Cup, live: Carlos Alcaraz - Marius Copil
DSC Arminia Bielefeld - FC Augsburg
International - Salernitana
Alaves - Seville