The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals

Hugo Zeberg () and Svante Pääbo ()
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Hugo Zeberg: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Svante Pääbo: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Nature, 2020, vol. 587, issue 7835, 610-612

Abstract: Abstract A recent genetic association study1 identified a gene cluster on chromosome 3 as a risk locus for respiratory failure after infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A separate study (COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative)2 comprising 3,199 hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and control individuals showed that this cluster is the major genetic risk factor for severe symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization. Here we show that the risk is conferred by a genomic segment of around 50 kilobases in size that is inherited from Neanderthals and is carried by around 50% of people in south Asia and around 16% of people in Europe.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2818-3

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