The Interferon-Induced Transmembrane Protein 3 -rs12252 Allele May Predict COVID-19 Severity Among Ethnic Minorities

Mucosal immune responses to infection and vaccination in the respiratory tract

“…A previous study in a mouse model concluded that Ifitm3 is important for the survival of tissue-resident CD8 + T cells upon secondary infection, and, interestingly, frequency and number of CD8 + T cells in the airways of patients with naturally acquired influenza virus infection were correlated with the genotype of rs34481144, with fewer CD8 + T cells in individuals carrying the risk allele. Interestingly, these variants have already been assessed for utility in COVID-19 risk assessment ( Cuesta-Llavona et al., 2021 ; Mohammed et al., 2021 ), and these IFITM3 variants seem likely candidate biomarkers, though again, further study across populations will be needed for validation.…”

Positive Regulation of the Antiviral Activity of Interferon-Induced Transmembrane Protein 3 by S-Palmitoylation

“…In addition, the naturally occurring single nucleotide polymorphism in IFITM3 (SNP RS12252), which is the truncated N-terminal type of IFITM3 in human may be associated with the severe outcomes following infection by IVA ( 64 , 67 ), human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) ( 68 ), and human enterovirus 71 ( 69 ), as well as increased incidence and mortality caused by COVID-19 ( 70 – 72 ). Given the circumstance, some researchers suggested predicting the severity of COVID-19 infection among ethnic minorities based on IFITM3-rs12252 ( 73 ). Another IFITM3 SNP rs34481144 identified in the 5 ‘UTR of the IFITM3 gene was reported to decrease the transcription level of its mRNA and the CD8 + T cell number in the airways of influenza-infected individuals.…”