Role of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 genes in susceptibility/severity to COVID-19
Keywords:
angiotensin converting enzyme, COVID-19, genetic polymorphism, genetic susceptibility, SARS-CoV-2Abstract
COVID-19 is a new severe acute respiratory syndrome, caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. There are variants in ACE2 and TMPRSS2 genes potentially associated with susceptibility/severity to COVID-19, although the literature on this topic is scattered and poorly systematized. The aim of this work is to highlight the relevance of variants in ACE2 and TMPRSS2 genes for susceptibility/severity to COVID-19. Variants in the ACE2 and TMPRSS2 genes were described, with potential repercussions on the structure and function of these proteins, or on their levels of expression. Some of these variants are differentially distributed among Asian, European, African or American populations, and are potentially associated with increased susceptibility/severity to COVID-19. Results referring to the role of ACE2 expression levels on the clinical severity of the disease are inconsistent. None of these studies establish associations between identified genetic variants, or ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression levels, and specific clinical markers of disease severity. In conclusion, variants in ACE2 and TMPRSS2 genes have been identified as potentially associated with a higher susceptibility/severity to COVID-19, although it is necessary to replicate research in other populations around the world, and to develop clinical genotype-phenotype correlation studies in patients with this disease, for its adequate stratification by risk groups, and to adjust personalized preventive or therapeutic interventions, based on the patient profile for relevant genetic variants.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The journal Anales de la Academia de Ciencias de Cuba protects copyright, and operates with a Creative Commons License 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License 4.0). By publishing in it, authors allow themselves to copy, reproduce, distribute, publicly communicate their work and generate derivative works, as long as the original author is cited and acknowledged. They do not allow, however, the use of the original work for commercial or lucrative purposes.
The authors authorize the publication of their writings, retaining the authorship rights, and assigning and transferring to the magazine all the rights protected by the intellectual property laws that govern in Cuba, which imply editing to disseminate the work.
Authors may establish additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (for example, placing it in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), with recognition of having been first published in this journal.
To learn more, see https://creativecommons.org
