Genetic predispositions may influence geographical and interethnic differences in COVID-19 prevalence and mortality in affected populations. Of the many genes implicated in COVID-19 progression, a substantial number have no direct functional link on virus transfer/viability or on the host immune system. To address this knowledge deficit, a large number of in silico studies have recently been published. However, the results of these studies often contradict the findings of studies involving real patients. For example, the ACE2 has been shown to play an important role in regulating coronavirus entry into cells, but none of its variations have been directly associated with COVID-19 susceptibility or severity. Consistently was reported that increased risk of COVID-19 is associated with blood group A and with the APOE4 allele. Among other genes with potential impacts are the genes for CCR5, IL-10, CD14, TMPRSS2 and angiotensin-converting enzyme. Variants within the protein-coding genes OAS1 and LZTFL1 (transferred to the human genome from Neanderthals) are understood to be among the strongest predictors of disease severity. The intensive research efforts have helped to identify the genes and polymorphisms that contribute to SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity.

Experimental Medicine Centre Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine Prague 4 Czech Republic

See more in PubMed

ABONDIO P, SAZZINI M, GARAGNANI P, BOATTINI A, MONTI D, FRANCESCHI C, LUISELLI D, GIULIANI C. The genetic variability of APOE in different human populations and its implications for longevity. Genes (Basel) 2019;10:222. doi: 10.3390/genes10030222. PubMed DOI PMC

ANDOLFO I, RUSSO R, LASORSA VA, CANTALUPO S, ROSATO BE, BONFIGLIO F, FRISSO G, ABETE P, CASSESE GM, SERVILLO G, ESPOSITO G, GENTILE I, PISCOPO C, VILLANI R, FIORENTINO G, CERINO P, BUONERBA C, PIERRI B, ZOLLO M, IOLASCON A, CAPASSO M. Common variants at 21q22.3 locus influence MX1 and TMPRSS2 gene expression and susceptibility to severe COVID-19. iScience. 2021;24:102322. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102322. PubMed DOI PMC

BARBUJANI G, MAGAGNI A, MINCH E, CAVALLI-SFORZA LL. An apportionment of human DNA diversity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997;94:4516–4519. doi: 10.1073/pnas.94.9.4516. PubMed DOI PMC

BECKMAN LE, SAHA N, SPITSYN V, Van LANDEGHEM G, BECKMAN L. Ethnic differences in the HFE codon 282 (Cys/Tyr) polymorphism. Hum Hered. 1997;47:263–267. doi: 10.1159/000154422. PubMed DOI

BELLONE M, CALVISI SL. ACE polymorphism and COVID-19-related mortality in Europe. Mol Med (Berl) 2020;98:1505–1509. doi: 10.1007/s00109-020-01981-0. PubMed DOI PMC

BENSKIN LL. A basic review of the preliminary evidence that COVID-19 risk and severity is increased in vitamin D deficiency. Front Public Health. 2020;8:513. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00513. PubMed DOI PMC

BEREKAA MM. Insights into the COVID-19 pandemic: Origin, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and therapeutic interventions. Front Biosci (Elite Ed) 2020;13:117–139. doi: 10.2741/874. PubMed DOI

BERNAS SN, BALDAUF H, WENDLER S, HEIDENREICH F, LANGE V, HOFMANN JA, SAUTER J, SCHMIDT AH, SCHETELIG J. CCR5Δ32 mutations do not determine COVID-19 disease course. Int J Infect Dis. 2021;105:653–655. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.02.108. PubMed DOI PMC

BORINSKAYA S, KAL’INA N, MARUSIN A, FASKHUTDINOVA G, MOROZOVA I, KUTUEV I, KOSHECHKIN V, KHUSNUTDINOVA E, STEPANOV V, PUZYREV V, YANKOVSKY N, ROGAEV E. Distribution of the alcohol dehydrogenase ADH1B*47His allele in Eurasia. Am J Hum Genet. 2009;84:89–92. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.12.007. PubMed DOI PMC

BOURGONJE AR, ABDULLE AE, TIMENS W, HILLEBRANDS JL, NAVIS GJ, GORDIJN SJ, BOLLING MC, DIJKSTRA G, VOORS AA, OSTERHAUS AD, Van der VOORT PH, MULDER DJ, Van GOOR H. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), SARS-CoV-2 and the pathophysiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) J Pathol. 2020;251:228–248. doi: 10.1002/path.5471. PubMed DOI PMC

CAMBIEN F, ALHENC-GELAS F, HERBETH B, ANDRE JL, RAKOTOVAO R, GONZALES MF, ALLEGRINI J, BLOCH C. Familial resemblance of plasma angiotensin-converting enzyme level: the Nancy Study. Am J Hum Genet. 1988;43:774–780. PubMed PMC

CHOI SW, MAK TS, O’REILLY PF. Tutorial: a guide to performing polygenic risk score analyses. Nat Protoc. 2020;15:2759–2772. doi: 10.1038/s41596-020-0353-1. PubMed DOI PMC

CORONAVIRIDAE STUDY GROUP OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE ON TAXONOMY OF VIRUSES. The species Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus: classifying 2019-nCoV and naming it SARS-CoV-2. Nat Microbiol. 2020;5:536–544. doi: 10.1038/s41564-020-0695-z. PubMed DOI PMC

CUESTA-LLAVONA E, GÓMEZ J, ALBAICETA GM, AMADO-RODRÍGUEZ L, GARCÍA-CLEMENTE M, GUTIÉRREZ-RODRÍGUEZ J, LÓPEZ-ALONSO I, HERMIDA T, ENRÍQUEZ AI, HERNÁNDEZ-GONZÁLEZ C, GIL-PEÑA H, DOMÍNGUEZ-GARRIDO E, PÉREZ-OLIVEIRA S, ALVAREZ V, LÓPEZ-LARREA C, SUAREZ-ALVAREZ B, TRANCHE S, JIMENO-DEMUTH FJ, COTO E. Variant-genetic and transcript-expression analysis showed a role for the chemokine-receptor CCR5 in COVID-19 severity. Int Immunopharmacol. 2021;98:107825. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2021.107825. PubMed DOI PMC

DEAN L ABO blood group. In: Medical Genetics Summaries [Internet] PRATT VM, SCOTT SA, PIRMOHAMED M, ESQUIVEL B, KANE MS, KATTMAN BL, MALHEIRO AJ, editors. Bethesda (MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information (US); 2012. (updated 2015 Jul 27) PubMed

DELANGHE JR, SPEECKAERT MM, De BUYZERE ML. COVID-19 infections are also affected by human ACE1 D/I polymorphism. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2020a;58:1125–1126. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2020-0425. PubMed DOI

DELANGHE JR, SPEECKAERT MM, De BUYZERE ML. The host’s angiotensin-converting enzyme polymorphism may explain epidemiological findings in COVID-19 infections. Clin Chim Acta. 2020b;505:192–193. doi: 10.1016/j.cca.2020.03.031. PubMed DOI PMC

Del SER T, FERNÁNDEZ-BLÁZQUEZ MA, VALENTÍ M, ZEA-SEVILLA MA, FRADES B, ALFAYATE E, SAIZ L, CALERO O, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ FJ, RÁBANO A, MEDINA M, CALERO M. Residence, clinical features, and genetic risk factors associated with symptoms of COVID-19 in a cohort of older people in Madrid. Gerontology. 2021;67:281–289. doi: 10.1159/000513182. PubMed DOI PMC

Dos SANTOS ACM, Dos SANTOS BRC, Dos SANTOS BB, De MOURA EL, FERREIRA JM, Dos SANTOS LKC, OLIVEIRA SP, DIAS RBF, PEREIRA E SILVA AC, De FARIAS KF, De SOUZA FIGUEIREDO EVM. Genetic polymorphisms as multi-biomarkers in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) by coronavirus infection: A systematic review of candidate gene association studies. Infect Genet Evol. 2021;93:104846. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2021.104846. PubMed DOI PMC

FRICKE-GALINDO I, FALFÁN-VALENCIA R. Genetics insight for COVID-19 susceptibility and severity: A review. Front Immunol. 2021;12:622176. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.622176. PubMed DOI PMC

GALE SC, GAO L, MIKACENIC C, COYLE SM, RAFAELS N, MURRAY DUDENKOV T, MADENSPACHER JH, DRAPER DW, GE W, ALOOR JJ, AZZAM KM, LAI L, BLACKSHEAR PJ, CALVANO SE, BARNES KC, LOWRY SF, CORBETT S, WURFEL MM, FESSLER MB. APOε4 is associated with enhanced in vivo innate immune responses in human subjects. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2014;134:127–134. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2014.01.032. PubMed DOI PMC

GOLDSTEIN MR, POLAND GA, GRAEBER ACW. Does apolipoprotein E genotype predict COVID-19 severity? QJM. 2020;113:529–530. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/hcaa142. PubMed DOI PMC

GÓMEZ J, ALBAICETA GM, GARCÍA-CLEMENTE M, LÓPEZ-LARREA C, AMADO-RODRÍGUEZ L, LOPEZ-ALONSO I, HERMIDA T, ENRIQUEZ AI, HERRERO P, MELÓN S, ALVAREZ-ARGÜELLES ME, BOGA JA, ROJO-ALBA S, CUESTA-LLAVONA E, ALVAREZ V, LORCA R, COTO E. Angiotensin-converting enzymes (ACE, ACE2) gene variants and COVID-19 outcome. Gene. 2020;762:145102. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2020.145102. PubMed DOI PMC

GUO Y, LIU Y, SONG J, LIU P, WU S, TAN Y, FAN F, CHEN Z. Association of CD14 rs2569190 G/A genetic polymorphism with the severity of enterovirus 71 infection in Chinese children. Virology. 2020;548:25–30. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2020.06.001. PubMed DOI PMC

HASTIE CE, MacKAY DF, HO F, CELIS-MORALES CA, KATIKIREDDI SV, NIEDZWIEDZ CL, JANI BD, WELSH P, MAIR FS, GRAY SR, O’DONNELL CA, GILL JM, SATTAR N, PELL JP. Vitamin D concentrations and COVID-19 infection in UK Biobank. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2020;14:561–565. doi: 10.1016/j.dsx.2020.07.021. Erratum in: Diabetes Metab Syndr 14: 1315–1131, 2020. PubMed DOI PMC

HE J, FENG D, De VLAS SJ, WANG H, FONTANET A, ZHANG P, PLANCOULAINE S, TANG F, ZHAN L, YANG H, WANG T, RICHARDUS JH, HABBEMA JD, CAO W. Association of SARS susceptibility with single nucleic acid polymorphisms of OAS1 and MxA genes: a case-control study. BMC Infect Dis. 2006;6:106. doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-6-106. PubMed DOI PMC

HERNÁNDEZ CORDERO AI, LI X, MILNE S, YANG CX, BOSSÉ Y, JOUBERT P, TIMENS W, Van den BERGE M, NICKLE D, HAO K, SIN DD. Multi-omics highlights ABO plasma protein as a causal risk factor for COVID-19. Hum Genet. 2021;140:969–979. doi: 10.1007/s00439-021-02264-5. PubMed DOI PMC

HIPPISLEY-COX J, YOUNG D, COUPLAND C, CHANNON KM, TAN PS, HARRISON DA, ROWAN K, AVEYARD P, PAVORD ID, WATKINSON PJ. Risk of severe COVID-19 disease with ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers: cohort study including 8.3 million people. Heart. 2020;106:1503–1511. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2020-317393. PubMed DOI PMC

HOFFMANN M, KLEINE-WEBER H, SCHROEDER S, KRÜGER N, HERRLER T, ERICHSEN S, SCHIERGENS TS, HERRLER G, WU NH, NITSCHE A, MÜLLER MA, DROSTEN C, PÖHLMANN S. SARS-CoV-2 cell entry depends on ACE2 and TMPRSS2 and is blocked by a clinically proven protease inhibitor. Cell. 2020;181:271–280.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.02.052. PubMed DOI PMC

HUANG T, SHU Y, CAI YD. Genetic differences among ethnic groups. BMC Genomics. 2015;16:1093. doi: 10.1186/s12864-015-2328-0. PubMed DOI PMC

HUBÁČEK JA, ŠEDOVÁ L, OLIŠAROVÁ V, ADÁMKOVÁ V, TÓTHOVÁ V. Different prevalence of T2DM risk alleles in Roma population in comparison with the majority Czech population. Mol Genet Genomic Med. 2020;8:e1361. doi: 10.1002/mgg3.1361. PubMed DOI PMC

HUBACEK JA, DLOUHA L, DUSEK L, MAJEK O, ADAMKOVA V. Apolipoprotein E4 allele in subjects with COVID-19. Gerontology. 2021a;67:320–322. doi: 10.1159/000516200. PubMed DOI PMC

HUBACEK JA, DUSEK L, MAJEK O, ADAMEK V, CERVINKOVA T, DLOUHA D, ADAMKOVA V. ACE I/D polymorphism in Czech first-wave SARS-CoV-2-positive survivors. Clin Chim Acta. 2021b;519:206–209. doi: 10.1016/j.cca.2021.04.024. PubMed DOI PMC

HUBACEK JA, DUSEK L, MAJEK O, ADAMEK V, CERVINKOVA T, DLOUHA D, PAVEL J, ADAMKOVA V. CCR5Δ32 deletion as a protective factor in Czech first-wave COVID-19 subjects. Physiol Res. 2021c;70:111–115. doi: 10.33549/physiolres.934647. PubMed DOI PMC

KARCIOGLU BATUR L, HEKIM N. The role of DBP gene polymorphisms in the prevalence of new coronavirus disease 2019 infection and mortality rate. J Med Virol. 2021;93:1409–1413. doi: 10.1002/jmv.26409. PubMed DOI PMC

KIM YC, JEONG BH. Strong correlation between the case fatality rate of COVID-19 and the rs6598045 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 (IFITM3) gene at the population-level. Genes (Basel) 2020;12:42. doi: 10.3390/genes12010042. PubMed DOI PMC

KRISTIANSEN H, SCHERER CA, McVEAN M, IADONATO SP, VENDS S, THAVACHELVAM K, STEFFENSEN TB, HORAN KA, KURI T, WEBER F, PALUDAN SR, HARTMANN R. Extracellular 2′-5′ oligoadenylate synthetase stimulates RNase L-independent antiviral activity: a novel mechanism of virus-induced innate immunity. J Virol. 2010;84:11898–11904. doi: 10.1128/JVI.01003-10. PubMed DOI PMC

KUO CL, PILLING LC, ATKINS JL, MASOLI JAH, DELGADO J, KUCHEL GA, MELZER D. APOE e4 genotype predicts severe COVID-19 in the UK Biobank community cohort. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2020;75:2231–2232. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glaa131. PubMed DOI PMC

LASSALE C, GAYE B, HAMER M, GALE CR, BATTY GD. Ethnic disparities in hospitalisation for COVID-19 in England: The role of socioeconomic factors, mental health, and inflammatory and pro-inflammatory factors in a community-based cohort study. Brain Behav Immun. 2020;88:44–49. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2020.05.074. PubMed DOI PMC

LEHRER S, RHEINSTEIN PH. Homozygosity for rs17775810 minor allele associated with reduced mortality of COVID-19 in the UK Biobank Cohort. In Vivo. 2021;35:965–968. doi: 10.21873/invivo.12338. PubMed DOI PMC

LIU YC, KUO RL, SHIH SR. COVID-19: The first documented coronavirus pandemic in history. Biomed J. 2020;43:328–333. doi: 10.1016/j.bj.2020.04.007. PubMed DOI PMC

LIU N, ZHANG T, MA L, ZHANG H, WANG H, WEI W, PEI H, LI H. The impact of ABO blood group on COVID-19 infection risk and mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Blood Rev. 2020;48:100785. doi: 10.1016/j.blre.2020.100785. PubMed DOI PMC

MAHLEY RW. Apolipoprotein E: from cardiovascular disease to neurodegenerative disorders. J Mol Med (Berl) 2016;94:739–746. doi: 10.1007/s00109-016-1427-y. PubMed DOI PMC

MEHTA P, McAULEY DF, BROWN M, SANCHEZ E, TATTERSALL RS, MANSON JJ HLH ACROSS SPECIALITY COLLABORATION, UK. COVID-19: consider cytokine storm syndromes and immunosuppression. Lancet. 2020;395:1033–1034. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30628-0. PubMed DOI PMC

MISTRY S, HARRISON JR, SMITH DJ, ESCOTT-PRICE V, ZAMMIT S. The use of polygenic risk scores to identify phenotypes associated with genetic risk of bipolar disorder and depression: A systematic review. J Affect Disord. 2018;234:148–155. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.02.005. PubMed DOI

NADKARNI GN, GIGNOUX CR, SOROKIN EP, DAYA M, RAHMAN R, BARNES KC, WASSEL CL, KENNY EE. Worldwide frequencies of APOL1 renal risk variants. N Engl J Med. 2018;379:2571–2572. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1800748. PubMed DOI PMC

OVSYANNIKOVA IG, HARALAMBIEVA IH, CROOKE SN, POLAND GA, KENNEDY RB. The role of host genetics in the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 susceptibility and severity. Immunol Rev. 2020;296:205–219. doi: 10.1111/imr.12897. PubMed DOI PMC

PACES J, STRIZOVA Z, SMRZ D, CERNY J. COVID-19 and the immune system. Physiol Res. 2020;69:379–388. doi: 10.33549/physiolres.934492. PubMed DOI PMC

PAIM AAO, LOPES-RIBEIRO Á, DAIAN E SILVA DSO, ANDRADE LAF, MORAES TFS, BARBOSA-STANCIOLI EF, Da FONSECA FG, COELHO-DOS-REIS JG. Will a little change do you good? A putative role of polymorphisms in COVID-19. Immunol Lett. 2021;235:9–14. doi: 10.1016/j.imlet.2021.04.005. PubMed DOI PMC

PATI A, PADHI S, SUVANKAR S, PANDA AK. Minor allele of interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 polymorphism (rs12252) is covered against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection and mortality: A worldwide epidemiological investigation. J Infect Dis. 2021a;223:175–178. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaa630. PubMed DOI PMC

PATI A, PADHI S, PANDA D, SUVANKAR S, PANDA AK. A cluster of differentiation 14 (CD14) polymorphism (C-159T rs2569190) is associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality in the European population. J Infect Dis. 2021b;2021:jiab180. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiab180. PubMed DOI PMC

PAIRO-CASTINEIRA E, CLOHISEY S, KLARIC L, BRETHERICK AD, RAWLIK K, PASKO D, WALKER S, PARKINSON N, FOURMAN MH, RUSSELL CD, FURNISS J, RICHMOND A, GOUNTOUNA E, WROBEL N, HARRISON D, WANG B, WU Y, MEYNERT A, GRIFFITHS F, OOSTHUYZEN W, ET AL. Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in COVID-19. Nature. 2021;591:92–98. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03065-y. PubMed DOI

PENDU JL, BREIMAN A, ROCHER J, DION M, RUVOËN-CLOUET N. ABO blood types and COVID-19: Spurious, anecdotal, or truly important relationships? A reasoned review of available data. Viruses. 2021;13:160. doi: 10.3390/v13020160. PubMed DOI PMC

PETROSILLO N, VICECONTE G, ERGONUL O, IPPOLITO G, PETERSEN E. COVID-19, SARS and MERS: are they closely related? Clin Microbiol Infect. 2020;26:729–734. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2020.03.026. PubMed DOI PMC

POURALI F, AFSHARI M, ALIZADEH-NAVAEI R, JAVIDNIA J, MOOSAZADEH M, HESSAMI A. Relationship between blood group and risk of infection and death in COVID-19: a live meta-analysis. New Microbes New Infect. 2020;37:100743. doi: 10.1016/j.nmni.2020.100743. PubMed DOI PMC

RAISI-ESTABRAGH Z, McCRACKEN C, BETHELL MS, COOPER J, COOPER C, CAULFIELD MJ, MUNROE PB, HARVEY NC, PETERSEN SE. Greater risk of severe COVID-19 in Black, Asian and minority ethnic populations is not explained by cardiometabolic, socioeconomic or behavioural factors, or by 25(OH)-vitamin D status: study of 1326 cases from the UK Biobank. J Public Health (Oxf) 2020;42:451–460. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdaa095. PubMed DOI PMC

SAADAT M. No significant correlation between ACE Ins/Del genetic polymorphism and COVID-19 infection. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2020;58:1127–1128. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2020-0577. PubMed DOI

SAMSON M, LIBERT F, DORANZ BJ, RUCKER J, LIESNARD C, FARBER CM, SARAGOSTI S, LAPOUMEROULIE C, COGNAUX J, FORCEILLE C, MUYLDERMANS G, VERHOFSTEDE C, BURTONBOY G, GEORGES M, IMAI T, RANA S, YI Y, SMYTH RJ, COLLMAN RG, DOMS RW, ET AL. Resistance to HIV-1 infection in caucasian individuals bearing mutant alleles of the CCR-5 chemokine receptor gene. Nature. 1996;382:722–725. doi: 10.1038/382722a0. PubMed DOI

SEVERE COVID-19 GWAS GROUP. ELLINGHAUS D, DEGENHARDT F, BUJANDA L, BUTI M, ALBILLOS A, INVERNIZZI P, FERNÁNDEZ J, PRATI D, BASELLI G, ASSELTA R, GRIMSRUD MM, MILANI C, AZIZ F, KÄSSENS J, MAY S, WENDORFF M, WIENBRANDT L, UELLENDAHL-WERTH F, ZHENG T, ET AL. Genomewide association study of severe Covid-19 with respiratory failure. N Engl J Med. 2020;383:1522–1534. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2020283. PubMed DOI PMC

SHI J, LIU Y, LIU Y, LI Y, QIU S, BAI Y, GU Y, LUO J, CUI H, LI Y, ZHAO Q, ZHANG K, CHENG Y. Association between ApoE polymorphism and hypertension: A meta-analysis of 28 studies including 5898 cases and 7518 controls. Gene. 2018;675:197–207. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2018.06.097. PubMed DOI

SHIRATO K, KAWASE M, MATSUYAMA S. Wild-type human coronaviruses prefer cell-surface TMPRSS2 to endosomal cathepsins for cell entry. Virology. 2018;517:9–15. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2017.11.012. PubMed DOI PMC

SRIVASTAVA A, BANDOPADHYAY A, DAS D, PANDEY RK, SINGH V, KHANAM N, SRIVASTAVA N, SINGH PP, DUBEY PK, PATHAK A, GUPTA P, RAI N, SULTANA GNN, CHAUBEY G. Genetic association of ACE2 rs2285666 polymorphism with COVID-19 spatial distribution in India. Front Genet. 2020;11:564741. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2020.564741. PubMed DOI PMC

TALMUD PJ, COOPER JA, MORRIS RW, DUDBRIDGE F, SHAH T, ENGMANN J, DALE C, WHITE J, McLACHLAN S, ZABANEH D, WONG A, ONG KK, GAUNT T, HOLMES MV, LAWLOR DA, RICHARDS M, HARDY R, KUH D, WAREHAM N, LANGENBERG C, ET AL. Sixty-five common genetic variants and prediction of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes. 2015;64:1830–1840. doi: 10.2337/db14-1504. PubMed DOI PMC

TORRE-FUENTES L, MATÍAS-GUIU J, HERNÁNDEZ-LORENZO L, MONTERO-ESCRIBANO P, PYTEL V, PORTA-ETESSAM J, GÓMEZ-PINEDO U, MATÍAS-GUIU JA. ACE2, TMPRSS2, and Furin variants and SARS-CoV-2 infection in Madrid, Spain. J Med Virol. 2021;93:863–869. doi: 10.1002/jmv.26319. PubMed DOI PMC

VALENTI L, GRIFFINI S, LAMORTE G, GROVETTI E, UCEDA RENTERIA SC, MALVESTITI F, SCUDELLER L, BANDERA A, PEYVANDI F, PRATI D, MERONI P, CUGNO M. Chromosome 3 cluster rs11385942 variant links complement activation with severe COVID-19. J Autoimmun. 2021;117:102595. doi: 10.1016/j.jaut.2021.102595. PubMed DOI PMC

VAŠKŮ A. Covid-19 infection and the host genetic predisposition: does it exist? Physiol Res. 2020;69:511–514. doi: 10.33549/physiolres.934504. PubMed DOI PMC

VERMA S, ABBAS M, VERMA S, KHAN FH, RAZA ST, SIDDIQI Z, AHMAD I, MAHDI F. Impact of I/D polymorphism of angiotensin-converting enzyme 1 (ACE1) gene on the severity of COVID-19 patients. Infect Genet Evol. 2021;91:104801. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2021.104801. PubMed DOI PMC

WU BB, GU DZ, YU JN, YANG J, SHEN WQ. Association between ABO blood groups and COVID-19 infection, severity and demise: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Infect Genet Evol. 2020;84:104485. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104485. PubMed DOI PMC

YAMAMOTO N, ARIUMI Y, NISHIDA N, YAMAMOTO R, BAUER G, GOJOBORI T, SHIMOTOHNO K, MIZOKAMI M. SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 mortalities strongly correlate with ACE1 I/D genotype. Gene. 2020;758:144944. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2020.144944. PubMed DOI PMC

ZEBERG H, PÄÄBO S. The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals. Nature. 2020;587:610–612. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2818-3. PubMed DOI

ZHANG Y, QIN L, ZHAO Y, ZHANG P, XU B, LI K, LIANG L, ZHANG C, DAI Y, FENG Y, SUN J, HU Z, XIANG H, KNIGHT JC, DONG T, JIN R. Interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 genetic variant rs12252-C associated with disease severity in coronavirus disease 2019. J Infect Dis. 2020;222:34–37. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaa224. PubMed DOI PMC

ZHAO J, LIN G, ZHANG WH, GE M, ZHANG Y. Contribution of CD14–159C/T polymorphism to tuberculosis susceptibility: a meta-analysis. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2013;17:1472–1478. doi: 10.5588/ijtld.13.0264. PubMed DOI

ZHOU S, BUTLER-LAPORTE G, NAKANISHI T, MORRISON DR, AFILALO J, AFILALO M, LAURENT L, PIETZNER M, KERRISON N, ZHAO K, BRUNET-RATNASINGHAM E, HENRY D, KIMCHI N, AFRASIABI Z, REZK N, BOUAB M, PETITJEAN L, GUZMAN C, XUE X, TSELIOS C, ET AL. A Neanderthal OAS1 isoform protects individuals of European ancestry against COVID-19 susceptibility and severity. Nat Med. 2021;27:659–667. doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01281-1. PubMed DOI

Association between FTO polymorphism and COVID-19 mortality among older adults: A population-based cohort study

ABCA3 and LZTFL1 Polymorphisms and Risk of COVID-19 in the Czech Population

A haemochromatosis-causing HFE mutation is associated with SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility in the Czech population