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Short Report
NK cell receptor NKG2C deletion and HLA-E variants are risk factors for severe COVID-19
Elisabeth Puchhammer-Stöckl
Center for Virology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Corresponding Author
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Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 may show mild infection or may develop severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In the present study, we investigated whether there is an association between the severity of COVID-19 and the naturally occurring human genetic variants in the natural killer (NK) cell NKG2C receptor (NKG2Cwt/del) and its cellular ligand HLA-E (HLA-E*0101/0103). Both factors are essential components of the NKG2C+ NK cell response and important parts of the defence against pulmonary viral infection. NKG2Cdel and HLA-E*0101 were significantly overrepresented in hospitalized patients (p=0.0006 and p=0.01, respectively) and particularly in critically ill patients requiring intensive care (p<0.0001 and p=0.01, respectively), compared to patients with mild symptoms or healthy controls. Both genetic variants were found to be independent risk factors for severe COVID-19. The data highlight that specific NKG2C+ NK cell responses play an important role against SARS-CoV-2 and that variations thereof may significantly influence the severity of disease.
Keywords
NKG2C, HLA-E, genetic variants
Figure 1
Zita
commented on 27 February, 2021
Hi, how it can be tested, whether someone is affected? It would be important to lock down them more seriously mostly for their own health. I would be interested in such testing. On the other side I had high NK level 2 years ago, it was cured by Prednisolone. How it reflects to Covid? The high reaction is a problem (eg citokine storm?) Many thanks, Zita
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This is a preprint. It has not completed peer review.
Short Report
NK cell receptor NKG2C deletion and HLA-E variants are risk factors for severe COVID-19
Elisabeth Puchhammer-Stöckl
Center for Virology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Corresponding Author
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
History
CURRENT STATUS: Posted
Version 1
Posted 15 Jun, 2020
Community comments: 1
Metrics
Comments: 1
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 may show mild infection or may develop severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In the present study, we investigated whether there is an association between the severity of COVID-19 and the naturally occurring human genetic variants in the natural killer (NK) cell NKG2C receptor (NKG2Cwt/del) and its cellular ligand HLA-E (HLA-E*0101/0103). Both factors are essential components of the NKG2C+ NK cell response and important parts of the defence against pulmonary viral infection. NKG2Cdel and HLA-E*0101 were significantly overrepresented in hospitalized patients (p=0.0006 and p=0.01, respectively) and particularly in critically ill patients requiring intensive care (p<0.0001 and p=0.01, respectively), compared to patients with mild symptoms or healthy controls. Both genetic variants were found to be independent risk factors for severe COVID-19. The data highlight that specific NKG2C+ NK cell responses play an important role against SARS-CoV-2 and that variations thereof may significantly influence the severity of disease.
Figure 1
Zita
commented on 27 February, 2021
Hi, how it can be tested, whether someone is affected? It would be important to lock down them more seriously mostly for their own health. I would be interested in such testing. On the other side I had high NK level 2 years ago, it was cured by Prednisolone. How it reflects to Covid? The high reaction is a problem (eg citokine storm?) Many thanks, Zita