Discovering the Genetic Risk Factors for Severe COVID-19

Who might have a genetic predisposition for contracting the virus that causes COVID-19 and be at increased risk for complications?  

Why have patients have experienced a broad range of COVID-19 severity (five percent require intensive care; the mortality rate is one to three percent; and about a third of patients were asymptomatic)? 

Weill Cornell Medicine geneticists are beginning to find out, as they uncover the genetic mechanisms underlying these questions in a research study with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They’re looking to enroll more than 40,000 people who have been infected with COVID-19 in the study, which they hope will shed light on both predisposing gene mutations and super-spreaders—patients with the virus but no symptoms, who represent about 30 per cent of infected patients. 

“This can help inform patients whose families are at increased risk for COVID-19 complications,” explains  Steven M.  Lipkin, MD, PhD, FACMG, Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Medicine and vice chair for research, Sanford and Joan Weill Department of Medicine. 

It’s already known that approximately four percent of Americans have particularly increased genetic predisposition to the virus—apart from the effects of conditions such as diabetes, obesity and autoimmune diseases, Dr. Lipkin says. About three percent carry mutations that put them at increased risk of doing poorly when infected with COVID-19, sometimes requiring hospitalization and admission to an intensive care unit. 

“We want to understand precisely which gene mutations confer the greatest risk of COVID-19 medical complications, and to discover new genes associated with COVID-19 risk—especially those in underrepresented minority groups,” Dr. Lipkin says. “We also hope this will guide us to more effective ways to treat these higher-risk patients.” 

Among the patients that Dr. Lipkin’s team will recruit for the study will be Weill Cornell Medicine health care workers. 

To find out if you qualify to participate in the study, or to undergo clinical genetic testing for COVID-19 severe disease, please email Iman Mohammed at ibm4001@med.cornell.edu.