Rare predicted loss-of-function variants of type I IFN immunity genes are associated with life-threatening COVID-19.

Matuozzo D, Talouarn E, Marchal A, Manry J, Seeleuthner Y, Zhang Y, Bolze A, Chaldebas M, Milisavljevic B, Zhang P, Gervais A, Bastard P, Asano T, Bizien L, Barzaghi F, Abolhassani H, Tayoun AA, Aiuti A, Darazam IA, Allende LM, Alonso-Arias R, Arias AA, Aytekin G, Bergman P, Bondesan S, Bryceson YT, Bustos IG, Cabrera-Marante O, Carcel S, Carrera P, Casari G, Chaïbi K, Colobran R, Condino-Neto A, Covill LE, El Zein L, Flores C, Gregersen PK, Gut M, Haerynck F, Halwani R, Hancerli S, Hammarström L, Hatipoğlu N, Karbuz A, Keles S, Kyheng C, Leon-Lopez R, Franco JL, Mansouri D, Martinez-Picado J, Akcan OM, Migeotte I, Morange PE, Morelle G, Martin-Nalda A, Novelli G, Novelli A, Ozcelik T, Palabiyik F, Pan-Hammarström Q, Pérez de Diego R, Planas-Serra L, Pleguezuelo DE, Prando C, Pujol A, Reyes LF, Rivière JG, Rodriguez-Gallego C, Rojas J, Rovere-Querini P, Schlüter A, Shahrooei M, Sobh A, Soler-Palacin P, Tandjaoui-Lambiotte Y, Tipu I, Tresoldi C, Troya J, van de Beek D, Zatz M, Zawadzki P, Al-Muhsen SZ, Baris-Feldman H, Butte MJ, Constantinescu SN, Cooper MA, Dalgard CL, Fellay J, Heath JR, Lau YL, Lifton RP, Maniatis T, Mogensen TH, von Bernuth H, Lermine A, Vidaud M, Boland A, Deleuze JF, Nussbaum R, Kahn-Kirby A, Mentre F, Tubiana S, Gorochov G, Tubach F, Hausfater P, COVID Human Genetic Effort , COVIDeF Study Group , French COVID Cohort Study Group , CoV-Contact Cohort , COVID-STORM Clinicians , COVID Clinicians , Orchestra Working Group , Amsterdam UMC Covid-19 Biobank , NIAID-USUHS COVID Study Group , Meyts I, Zhang SY, Puel A, Notarangelo LD, Boisson-Dupuis S, Su HC, Boisson B, Jouanguy E, Casanova JL, Zhang Q, Abel L, Cobat A

medRxiv - (-) - [2022-10-25; online 2022-10-25]

We previously reported inborn errors of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I interferon (IFN) immunity in 1-5% of unvaccinated patients with life-threatening COVID-19, and auto-antibodies against type I IFN in another 15-20% of cases. We report here a genome-wide rare variant burden association analysis in 3,269 unvaccinated patients with life-threatening COVID-19 (1,301 previously reported and 1,968 new patients), and 1,373 unvaccinated SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals without pneumonia. A quarter of the patients tested had antibodies against type I IFN (234 of 928) and were excluded from the analysis. No gene reached genome-wide significance. Under a recessive model, the most significant gene with at-risk variants was TLR7 , with an OR of 27.68 (95%CI:1.5-528.7, P= 1.1×10 -4 ), in analyses restricted to biochemically loss-of-function (bLOF) variants. We replicated the enrichment in rare predicted LOF (pLOF) variants at 13 influenza susceptibility loci involved in TLR3-dependent type I IFN immunity (OR=3.70 [95%CI:1.3-8.2], P= 2.1×10 -4 ). Adding the recently reported TYK2 COVID-19 locus strengthened this enrichment, particularly under a recessive model (OR=19.65 [95%CI:2.1-2635.4]; P= 3.4×10 -3 ). When these 14 loci and TLR7 were considered, all individuals hemizygous ( n =20) or homozygous ( n =5) for pLOF or bLOF variants were patients (OR=39.19 [95%CI:5.2-5037.0], P =4.7×10 -7 ), who also showed an enrichment in heterozygous variants (OR=2.36 [95%CI:1.0-5.9], P =0.02). Finally, the patients with pLOF or bLOF variants at these 15 loci were significantly younger (mean age [SD]=43.3 [20.3] years) than the other patients (56.0 [17.3] years; P= 1.68×10 -5 ). Rare variants of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I IFN immunity genes can underlie life-threatening COVID-19, particularly with recessive inheritance, in patients under 60 years old.

Clinical Genomics Stockholm [Service]

PubMed 36324795

DOI 10.1101/2022.10.22.22281221

Crossref 10.1101/2022.10.22.22281221

pmc: PMC9628204
pii: 2022.10.22.22281221