Scientists at the University of Oxford have identified a gene that makes people more susceptible to respiratory problems arising from COVID-19, Bloomberg reports.
The gene, known as LZTFL1, doubles the risk of respiratory failure in someone infected with the virus, according to the researchers. A higher-risk version of the gene most likely diminishes responses from the cells lining airways and the lungs during a COVID-19 infection.
The gene is disproportionately found in people of South Asian ancestry; about 60 percent of those in that group appear to carry it, compared with 15 percent of people with European heritage and only 2 percent of people of Afro-Caribbean ancestry, the study found.
This “shows that the way in which the lung responds to the infection is critical,” said James Davies, a co-lead author of the study, according to Bloomberg. “This is important because most treatments have focused on changing the way in which the immune system reacts to the virus.”
Davies added, “If you have the higher-risk genotype and you get very unwell with Covid, there’s a 50 percent chance that that wouldn’t have happened to you had you had the lower-risk genotype.”
The findings could help explain why certain communities, on a small scale, and, on a larger scale, regions — including the Indian subcontinent — have been hit harder by COVID-19 than others. Other contributing factors, including socioeconomic conditions, still are crucial to consider when determining why certain populations are more at risk than others.
Vaccination remains the best way people with the higher-risk genotype can protect themselves, the authors of the study noted.