Published on September 24, 2023
Ahmedabad: While a new Covid-19 variant pops up at regular intervals causing spike in disease and hospitalizations in various countries, it’s not only the virus that causes the infection and severity – it is also the host’s characteristics, especially immunity.
A recent study published in the journal, Nature comprising of analysis from 2.19 lakh Covid-19 cases from 82 studies in 35 countries identified 51 distinct genome-wide significant loci responsible for deaths or critical illness, hospitalization and other infections. Loci can be understood as plural of genomic locus – a specific and fixed position on a chromosome to locate a gene or genetic marker.
Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) was among the contributing institutions like MIT, Harvard University, Yale University, King’s College London, Queensland University, McGill University among others. AIIMS Kalyani was the other institution from India which was part of data collection and analysis. Madhvi Joshi, joint director of GBRC, led the analysis team for host genetic factors for western Indian population, whereas CG Joshi, the centre’s director was the admin team lead.
“This study has added 28 more loci to the global loci related to Covid infection and severity. This study has opened new opportunities to understand Covid virus entry, entry defence in airway mucus and response of type 1 interferon (defence mechanism protein) response,” said Madhvi Joshi.
The researchers said that the study also highlighted different genetic factors responsible for Covid severity in different parts of the world.
The paper indicated that the study can ‘inform our understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms that influence adverse outcomes and drug development.’ After three waves of Covid-19, the cases overall are stable in India and Gujarat has single-digit active cases for more than two months now. Officially, the state has recorded more than 11,000 deaths due to Covid-19 so far.
Parth Shastri Archive 