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Two pairs of siblings in the Netherlands, all hospitalized with COVID-19, have led to a breakthrough in our immune reaction to the disease and involve a genetic link to the variation in the severity of COVID-19.
The acute thought of a thorough physician at Radboud University Medical Center (RUMC; Nijmegen, the Netherlands) led university researchers to notice a link between the Toll-type receptor 7 gene (TLR7) and the severity of the patient’s reaction to COVID-19. The test opens a new avenue for researching the COVID-19 remedy while highlighting a possible genetic link with COVID-19.
The doctor’s interest was first aroused when two young brothers felt inflamed with SARS-CoV-2 and had to be ventilated due to the severity of their reaction to the infection. Unfortunately, one of the brothers died from the infection. The result for these siblings is contrary to the norm, as most young and healthy people can fight infection without the need for hospitalization. Noticing this anomaly and because the patients were siblings, he reported the case to his college classmates, who set up a multidisciplinary team to investigate the cases.
The sex of the patients also increased the threat of the serious reaction rather than a coincidence. Many genes related to the immune reaction live on the X chromosome, of which men have only one. This means that any abnormality in the X chromosome genes is more likely to be phenotypically expressed, as the male Y chromosome comprises far fewer genes than X, so it is less likely to involve a functional equivalent of the mutant gene.
This alleged genetic component earned more credit when another pair of healthy siblings under the age of 35 became seriously ill with COVID-19 in the hospital.
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Alexander Hoischen, a RUMC geneticist, used an immediate clinical exosome approach to the exomas of the brothers in the series. Case van der Made (RUMC) described how the resulting series were analyzed: “Basically, we tested the genes that play a role in the immune system. We know that many of these genes are located on the X chromosome and with two pairs of siblings affected, the X chromosome genes were the most suspicious.
They discovered a deletion mutation in the TLR7 gene of the first two brothers and a single fundamental substitution in the same gene of the moment pair of siblings. In any case, this led to significant relief in the production of the TLR7 protein.
van der Made and the team worked to identify the serve from the LTR7 and its effect on when the serve is not. They found that “TLR7 triggers the production of so-called interferons”, signaling proteins essential for defending against viral infections. This immune reaction is perhaps even more vital in combating the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as we know from the literature that the virus has tricks to decrease the production of interferons through immune cells.
They tested this genetic link with the severity of COVID-19 disease by mimicking a SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients whose TLR7 genes malfunctioned on their immune phones, and found that very few interferons occur and that the immune mobile reaction is weak.
In discussing the importance of this discovery, Hoischen stated that “TLR7 serves as has never been linked to an innate error of immunity. But unexpectedly, we now have an indication that TLR7 is essential for coverage against this coronavirus. , it turns out that the virus can be reflected without being disturbed because the immune formula does not get a message indicating that the virus has invaded. Because TLR7, which must identify the intruder and subsequently activate the defense, is slightly present, this may only be the explanation of the severity of the disease in these brothers.
This study highlights a new avenue to explore possible remedies for COVID-19 and may also provide an explanation of the observed trend of deaths from COVID-19 higher in men than in women.
BioTechnics is based on Future Science, Future Science Group
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