Europeans, South Asians have different genetic correlations with COVID-19 outcomes: Study

Hyderabad, Jun 11: A study said that the genetic variants responsible for COVID-19 severity among Europeans may not play a role in COVID-19 susceptibility among South Asians.
A CCMB release here on Friday said, in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is still unclear why some people experience more severe symptoms and adverse outcomes than others.
An earlier research done on European population suggested variations in a specific DNA segment strongly associated with severe COVID-19 infection and hospitalization. This DNA segment is present in 50 per cent of South Asians as compared to 16 per cent of Europeans.
An international team of scientists have analyzed the role of this DNA segment in determining COVID-19 outcomes among the South Asian population. The study was directed by Dr Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Director, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics & Chief Scientist, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad and Prof Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
They concluded that the genetic variants responsible for COVID-19 severity among Europeans may not play a role in COVID-19 susceptibility among South Asians. This finding has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.
“In this study, we have compared infection and case fatality rates with South Asian genomic data over three different timelines during the pandemic. We have especially looked into a large number of populations from India and Bangladesh”, said Dr Thangaraj.