Gene variant may be why some test positive for virus with no covid symptoms

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

Scientists have found a version of a particular gene that may explain why some people who test positive for the coronavirus never develop any covid-19 symptoms. The discovery could help scientists open new avenues for developing vaccines and treatments. On average, studies have found, at least 20 percent of people who contract the SARS-CoV-2 virus are asymptomatic. Scientists say these people might have quicker immune responses that fight the virus before symptoms can set in and lead to health complications.

“Looking at resistance allows us to basically understand how we can clear an infection,” said Samira Asgari, an assistant professor of genetics and genomic sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who was not involved in the study. To figure out how some people manage to fend off covid symptoms, researchers turned to human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes, which play a critical role in our body’s ability to recognize and fight pathogens. These genetic warriors are “the most medically important region of the genome,” said Jill Hollenbach, a professor in the departments of neurology and epidemiology at the University of California at San Francisco.

For their study, published Wednesday in Nature, Hollenbach and her team enrolled 29,947 volunteer bone marrow donors, because high-quality genetic data was already available for this group. They asked volunteers to use their smartphones daily to track their own coronavirus infections and resulting symptoms, including a runny nose, a scratchy throat, fever or chills. Participants were also asked to record if they had taken a coronavirus test each week, and note monthly whether they had been hospitalized.

During the nine-month study period, 1,428 unvaccinated individuals reported a positive coronavirus test, and 136 of them had no symptoms. Among the asymptomatic participants, 20 percent carried a common HLA variant called HLA-B*15:01. People carrying two copies of this variant — one passed down from each parent — were more than eight times more likely to remain asymptomatic than those carrying other HLA variants.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/07/19/genetic-variant-asymptomatic-covid/

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No paywall (gift)

Link to study - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06331-x

[Initech]

1. Wow, that's what happened to me.

I tested positive last year and had no symptoms other than a runny nose, and that was about it. Interesting.

[Ray Bruns]

2. This sounds a lot like "Evolution" and "Survival of the Fittest" talk

This is obviously BS because we all know it’s god who determines who gets aids and Covid.

[spinbaby]

3. Interesting

It explains people like me, who have had close exposures, but never gotten sick. I’m vaccinated, but I know plenty of vaccinated people who caught covid. I’ve had some definite close exposures, including sharing a hotel room with a person who turned out to have covid and staying in a rehab facility with a covid outbreak. I was giving luck, vaccinations, and good masking credit for avoiding covid, but maybe it’s my genes.

[csziggy]

4. I wonder if it is the same gene that is theorized to have protected ferom the plague and AIDS?

I seem to remember that there was some research into it a few decades ago but other than knowing that the gene existed, not much could be done with it. It would be cool if with advances in genetic modification, that gene could be "implanted" into other people to improve resistance to disease overall!

Resistance to HIV-1 infection in caucasian individuals bearing mutant alleles of the CCR-5 chemokine receptor gene
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Abstract

HIV-1 and related viruses require co-receptors, in addition to CD4, to infect target cells. The chemokine receptor CCR-5 (ref.1) was recently demonstrated to be a co-receptor for macrophage-tropic (M-tropic) HIV-1 strains, and the orphan receptor LESTR (also called fusin) allows infection by strains adapted for growth in transformed T-cell lines (T-tropic strains). Here we show that a mutant allele of CCR-5 is present at a high frequency in caucasian populations (allele frequency, 0.092), but is absent in black populations from Western and Central Africa and Japanese populations. A 32-base-pair deletion within the coding region results in a frame shift, and generates a non-functional receptor that does not support membrane fusion or infection by macrophage- and dual-tropic HIV-1 strains. In a cohort of HIV-1 infected caucasian subjects, no individual homozygous for the mutation was found, and the frequency of heterozygotes was 35% lower than in the general population. White blood cells from an individual homozygous for the null allele were found to be highly resistant to infection by M-tropic HIV-1 viruses, confirming that CCR-5 is the major co-receptor for primary HIV-1 strains. The lower frequency of heterozygotes in seropositive patients may indicate partial resistance.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8751444/

[Igel]

5. Probably not.

One is non-infection.

Another is basically a quick response that indicates infection but is so quick as to avoid symptoms.

The genetics that led to reduced susceptibility to the plague is oddly tied in to having a propensity for Grave's disease.

[róisín_dubh]

6. There was a documentary about that...

I seem to remember
ETA: yep, here’s info about it: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/mystery-black-death-clues-evidence/1490/