In a new study, researchers found potential treatments for COVID-19 after the discovery of five genes linked to the most severe form of the disease.
They found genes involved in two molecular processes, antiviral immunity, and lung inflammation.
The breakthrough can help doctors understand how COVID-19 damages the lungs at a molecular level.
The researchers say that existing drugs that target the actions of the genes reveal which drugs should be repurposed to treat COVID-19 in clinical trials.
The research was conducted by a team from the University of Edinburgh.
Genetic evidence is second only to clinical trials as a way to tell which treatments will be effective in a disease.
In the study, the team made the discovery by studying the DNA of 2,700 patients in 208 intensive care units (ICUs) in the UK.
They found key differences in five genes of the ICU patients compared with samples provided by healthy volunteers.
The genes—IFNAR2, TYK2, OAS1, DPP9, and CCR2—partially explain why some people become desperately sick with COVID-19, while others are not affected.
Having highlighted the genes, the team were then able to predict the effect of drug treatments on patients, because some genetic variants respond in a similar way to particular drugs.
For example, they showed that a reduction in the activity of the TYK2 gene protects against COVID-19.
A class of anti-inflammatory drugs called JAK inhibitors, which includes the drug baricitinib, produces this effect.
They also discovered that a boost in the activity of the gene INFAR2 is also likely to create protection because it is likely to mimic the effect of treatment with interferon—proteins released by cells of the immune system to defend against viruses.
However, the researchers caution that to be effective, patients might need treatment early in the disease.
Based on the findings, the researchers say that clinical trials should focus on drugs that target these specific antiviral and anti-inflammatory pathways.
One author of the study is Dr. Kenneth Baillie.
The study is published in Nature.
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