Year of grant:
2020

Research Area:
Heilsa - COVID-19 verkætlan

Project type:
Verkætlan

Project title:
Ávirkar ílegusamansetingin hjá einstaklinginum sjúkugongdina hjá COVID-19 smittuni?

Grant number:
7013

Project manager:
Noomi O. Gregersen

Institution/company:
FarGen/Ílegusavnið

Other participants:
Maria Skaalum Petersen, Magni Mohr, Shahin Gaini, Leivur N. Lydersen, Guðrið Andorsdóttir.

Project period:
Original: 17-04.2020-31.05.2021
Final: 17.04.2020-01.05.2022

Total budget:
kr. 497.081

Grant from the FRC in DKK:
kr. 497.081

Project description:
Original

Formålet er at kategorisere sygdomsudviklingen af COVID-19 patienter, lave genetiske tests og undersøge, om der findes individer eller grupper med usædvanlig høj risiko eller beskyttelse for COVID-19-smitten ved brug af den enkeltes genetiske profil. Forskning er essentiel for at få bedre kendskab til COVID-19-infektionen, dens smittespredning, og for at kunne identificere personer i mulige risikogrupper og derved beskytte dem.

Final
The aim of the project was to gain insight of whether genetic variation is associated with covid-19 severity in individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 from the Faroe Islands. A better understanding of the genetic factors underlying the extremely heterogeneous phenotypic response to infection with SARS-CoV-2 in humans is crucial for both future diagnostics and the development of treatment options.

The project comprised 159 consenting participants, all diagnosed with covid-19 by a positive PCR test. Mean age of the cohort was 41 years old, 52% are women, 48% are men, and 81% reported some symptomatic presence when interviewed the first time. A total of 17 different symptoms were reported: symptoms such as fever, sore throat, headache, dyspnea, chest pain, pressure in the chest, diarrhea, stomach pain, fatigue, myalgia, lost sense of smell, and lost sense of taste, rash, and anorexia. The patients were asked to grade the symptoms according to mild, moderate, and severe.

We performed whole-exome sequencing of the cohort. For the association analyses we divided the participants into groups according to covid-19 symptoms (covid-19) (NIH guidelines), number of symptoms (overall severity), and self-reported severity of symptoms (combined severity). For the covid-19 analysis we grouped the individuals with any of the various signs and symptoms of covid-19 (e.g., fever, cough, sore throat, headache, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of taste and smell) into the mild group and those with dyspnea and chest pain into the severe group. For the overall severity analysis, we set the cut-off to 7 regardless of severity of symptoms i.e., individuals reporting less than 7 different covid-19 symptoms compared to individuals reporting more than 7 different covid-19 symptoms. For the combined severity analysis, we scored the individuals according to number of mild to severe symptoms they reported and compared the two groups.

For each of the association analyses we found various nominal significant associated genes, however, none of the associations were exome-wide significant after Bonferroni correction for multiple testing. Interestingly, some of the associated genes have previously been identified as susceptibility genes for covid-19 severity e.g., genes that play an important role in regulation of the immune response. In conclusion, despite the relatively small sample size of our study, our findings suggest that genes involved in the regulation of the immune system are associated with severe covid-19 disease. Further studies on these genes and covid-19 are needed to confirm these findings in a larger sample size.

Project status:
Liðug

Project output:
One scientific article is in prep.

Publications outside the scientific community, i.e. lectures, periodicals, articles in newspapers, television and radio
The project was presented at: - the Vísindavøka 2020 organised by Granskingarráðið at the University of the Faroe Islands.



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