HLA Genotypes in Patients with Infection Caused by Different Strains of SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

The aggressive infectious nature of SARS-CoV-2, its rapid spread, and the emergence of mutations necessitate investigation of factors contributing to differences in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and severity. The role of genetic variations in the human HLA continues to be studied in various populations in terms of both its effect on morbidity and clinical manifestation of illness. The study included 484 COVID-19 convalescents (northwest Russia residents of St. Petersburg). Cases in which the responsible strain was determined were divided in two subgroups: group 1 (n = 231) had illness caused by genovariants unrelated to variant of concern (VOC) strains; and group 2 (n = 80) had illness caused by the delta (B.1.617.2) VOC; and a control group (n = 1456). DNA typing (HLA-A, B, DRB1) was performed at the basic resolution level. HLA-A*02 was associated with protection against infection caused by non-VOC SARS-CoV-2 genetic variants only but not against infection caused by delta strains. HLA-A*03 was associated with protection against infection caused by delta strains; and allele groups associated with infection by delta strains were HLA-A*30, B*49, and B*57. Thus, in northwest Russia, HLA-A*02 was associated with protection against infection caused by non-VOC SARS-CoV-2 genetic variants but not against delta viral strains. HLA-A*03 was associated with a reduced risk of infection by delta SARS-CoV-2 strains. HLA-A*30, HLA-B*49, and HLA-B*57 allele groups were predisposing factors for infection by delta (B.1.617.2) strains.

HLA-DQ2/8 and COVID-19 in Celiac Disease: Boon or Bane

“…Applying the computational BA prediction tool, 37 of those epitopes exposed a considerable BA to either HLA-DQ2 or HLA-DQ8 alleles (20 associated with NSP12, 13 with NSP13, 3 with the spike glycoprotein, and 1 with NSP3). Higher sequence similarity and a more effective affinity to specific HLAs were associated with a higher antibody response, thus conferring more efficient protection against a virus [8,23,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]104,108]. A similar explanation can explain the fact that CD patients are relatively protected against COVID-19.…”

“…The protective role of HLAs against bacteria [112], parasites [113], and even viruses is well reported. Their role in fighting viruses like HIV [114], HCV [115], HBV [116], and SARS [8,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][117][118][119] have been documented. Interestingly, the protective role of the CD-associated HLA II suggested by Greco N et al [23] represents a refreshing new idea that can help in our understanding of the celiac-COVID-19-HLA axis.…”

“…The topics of protective HLA polymorphisms related to autoimmune diseases in general [24,25] and, more specifically, to SARS-CoV-2 infectivity have been extensively reported [8,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36], despite some controversary on the latter topic [37]. Interestingly, some HLA variants were described to confer resistance to CD development.…”