HLA allele frequencies and susceptibility to COVID-19 in a group of 99 Italian patients

Antonio Novelli; Marco Andreani; Michela Biancolella; Laura Liberatoscioli; Chiara Passarelli; Vito Luigi Colona; Paola Rogliani; Francesca Leonardis; Andrea Campana; Rita Carsetti; Massimo Andreoni; Sergio Bernardini; Giuseppe Novelli; Franco Locatelli

doi:10.1111/tan.14047

HLA allele frequencies and susceptibility to COVID-19 in a group of 99 Italian patients

HLA. 2020 Nov;96(5):610-614. doi: 10.1111/tan.14047. Epub 2020 Sep 3.

Authors

Antonio Novelli¹, Marco Andreani², Michela Biancolella^{3

4}, Laura Liberatoscioli⁴, Chiara Passarelli¹, Vito Luigi Colona⁴, Paola Rogliani⁵, Francesca Leonardis⁶, Andrea Campana⁷, Rita Carsetti⁸, Massimo Andreoni^{9

10}, Sergio Bernardini¹¹, Giuseppe Novelli^{11

12

13

14}, Franco Locatelli^{15

16}

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
² Transplantation Immunogenetics Laboratory, Bambino Gesu' Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
³ Department of Biology, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
⁴ Medical Genetics Laboratory, Tor Vergata Hospital, Rome, Italy.
⁵ Unit of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
⁶ Intensive Care Unit, Tor Vergata University Hospital, Rome, Italy.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, IRCCS "Bambino Gesù" Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy.
⁸ Immunology Research Area B-cell development Unit Immunological Diagnosis Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
⁹ Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
¹⁰ Infectious Diseases Clinic, Policlinico Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
¹¹ Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Sciences, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
¹² Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA.
¹³ Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
¹⁴ IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy.
¹⁵ Department of Haematology and Oncology, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome.
¹⁶ Department of Paediatrics, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.

Abstract

With the aim to individuate alleles that may reflect a higher susceptibility to the disease, in the present study we analyzed the HLA allele frequency distribution in a group of 99 Italian patients affected by a severe or extremely severe form of COVID-19. After the application of Bonferroni's correction for multiple tests, a significant association was found for HLA-DRB1*15:01, -DQB1*06:02 and -B*27:07, after comparing the results to a reference group of 1017 Italian individuals, previously typed in our laboratory. The increased frequencies observed may contribute to identify potential markers of susceptibility to the disease, although controversial results on the role of single HLA alleles in COVID-19 patients have been recently reported.

Keywords: COVID-19; Disease susceptibility; HLA.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alleles
Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification*
COVID-19
Child
Child, Preschool
Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
Coronavirus Infections / genetics
Coronavirus Infections / transmission
Coronavirus Infections / virology
Female
Gene Frequency
Genetic Predisposition to Disease*
HLA Antigens / classification
HLA Antigens / genetics*
Haplotypes*
Humans
Italy / epidemiology
Male
Middle Aged
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
Pneumonia, Viral / genetics
Pneumonia, Viral / transmission
Pneumonia, Viral / virology
SARS-CoV-2
Young Adult

Substances

HLA Antigens