What decides whether a corona course will be bad

What decides whether a corona course will be difficult

Hospitalized Covid-19 patients show a certain gene variation much more often than people with mild courses. In particular, those affected with a partial or total lack of the NKG2C receptor fall seriously ill, the MedUni Vienna reported on Monday.

“This part of the immune response could therefore also be an important target for drugs that could help prevent severe Covid 19 diseases,” said virologist Elisabeth Puchhammer-Stöckl.

The antiviral immune response by natural killer cells (NK cells) is an important step in combating virus replication in the early stages of infection. These killer cells have special, activating receptors on their surface. These include the NKG2C receptor, which communicates with an infected cell via one of its specific surface structures, the HLA-E. This interaction leads to the destruction of the virus-infected cells.

Severe courses in the absence of a receptor

Around four percent of the population lacks the activating receptor NKG2C due to a gene variation, while around 30 percent of the population only partially has the receptor. A research group from the MedUni Center for Virology, headed by Puchhammer-Stöckl, has now shown that especially people with a partial or complete absence of the NKG2C receptor develop severe courses.

“The lack of the receptor was particularly common in patients who had to be treated with Covid-19 in intensive care units, regardless of age or gender. Genetic variations in the HLA-E of the infected cell were also associated with the severity of the disease, albeit to a lesser extent, ”explained Puchhammer-Stöckl. The current study, which recently appeared in the journal “Genetics in Medicine”, therefore shows the great importance of the NK cell response in the fight against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

(aeg / sda / apa)