urc mondor


Unité de Recherche Clinique Henri Mondor

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, Zhang P, Manry J, Seeleuthner Y, Zhang Y, Bolze A, Chaldebas M, Milisavljevic B, Gervais A, Bastard P, Asano T, Bizien L, Barzaghi F, Abolhassani H, A. Tayoun A, Aiuti A, I. Darazam A, 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, Delmonte OM, L. Zein E, 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, O. Akcan M, Migeotte I, Morange PE, Morelle G, Martin-Nalda A, Novelli G, Novelli A, Ozcelik T, Palabiyik F, Pan-Hammarström Q, de Diego RP, 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, Alosaimi MF, Alsohime FM, 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, 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 Genome MedGenome MedGenome Med. 2023;15:22.

BACKGROUND: We previously reported that impaired type I IFN activity, due to inborn errors of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I interferon (IFN) immunity or to autoantibodies against type I IFN, account for 15-20% of cases of life-threatening COVID-19 in unvaccinated patients. Therefore, the determinants of life-threatening COVID-19 remain to be identified in ~ 80% of cases. METHODS: We report here a genome-wide rare variant burden association analysis in 3269 unvaccinated patients with life-threatening COVID-19, and 1373 unvaccinated SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals without pneumonia. Among the 928 patients tested for autoantibodies against type I IFN, a quarter (234) were positive and were excluded. RESULTS: 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)) for 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)). This enrichment was further strengthened by (1) adding the recently reported TYK2 and TLR7 COVID-19 loci, particularly under a recessive model (OR = 19.65[95%CI 2.1-2635.4], P = 3.4 × 10(-3)), and (2) considering as pLOF branchpoint variants with potentially strong impacts on splicing among the 15 loci (OR = 4.40[9%CI 2.3-8.4], P = 7.7 × 10(-8)). Finally, the patients with pLOF/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)). CONCLUSIONS: 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.

MeSH terms: *covid-19; *Interferon Type I; a large number of pharmaceutical companies, that have contributed; Adult; Autoantibodies; Behring, paid to KUL. JLC reported a patent to PCT/US2021/042741 pending. FT is; COVID-19; grants for the research projects handled and fees for consultant activities from; head of the Centre de Pharmacoépidémiologie (Cephepi) of the Assistance Publique; holds a chair in Primary Immunodeficiencies and receives research grant from CSL; hospital, both these structures have received unrestricted research funding and; Humans; Immunity; indiscriminately to the salaries of its employees. FT is not employed by these; member of the board of directors of Roche and its subsidiary Genentech. I Meyts; Middle Aged; Rare variants; SARS-CoV-2; structures and did not receive any personal remuneration from these companies.; The remaining authors declare that they have no competing interests.; Toll-Like Receptor 3/genetics; Toll-Like Receptor 7; Type I interferon; Young Adult; – Hôpitaux de Paris and of the Clinical Research Unit of Pitié-Salpêtrière
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