Novel risk loci for COVID-19 hospitalization among admixed American populations

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.93666.2
• Publication Date: 2024-09-05T13:36:39Z
• Authors: Silvia Diz-de Alm...; Raquel Cruz; Andre D Luchessi; José M Lorenzo-Sa...; Miguel López de H...; Inés Quintela; Rafaela González-...; Vivian N Silbiger; Marta Sevilla Porras; Jair Antonio Teno...; Julian Nevado; Jose María Aguado; Carlos Aguilar; Sergio Aguilera-A...; Virginia Almadana; Berta Almoguera; Nuria Alvarez; Álvaro Andreu-Ber...; Eunate Arana-Arri; Celso Arango; María J Arranz; Maria-Jesus Artiga; Raúl C Baptista-R...; María Barreda- Sá...; Moncef Belhassen-...; Joao F Bezerra; Marcos AC Bezerra; Lucía Boix-Palop; María Brion; Ramón Brugada; Matilde Bustos; Enrique J Calderón; Cristina Carbonell; Luis Castano; Jose E Castelao; Rosa Conde-Vicente; M Lourdes Cordero...; Jose L Cortes-San...; Marta Corton; M Teresa Darnaude; Alba De Martino-R...; Victor del Campo-...; Aranzazu Diaz de ...; Elena Domínguez-G...; Rocío Eirós; María Carmen Fariñas; María J Fernandez...; Uxía Fernández-Ro...; Amanda Fernández-...; Tania Fernández-V...; Manuela Gago-Domí...; Belén Gil-Fournier; Javier Gómez-Arrue; Beatriz González ...; Fernan Gonzalez B...; Anna González-Neira; Javier González-P...; Juan F Gutiérrez-...; María José Herrero; Antonio Herrero-G...; María A Jimenez-S...; María Claudia Lattig; Anabel Liger Borja; Rosario Lopez-Rod...; Esther Mancebo; Caridad Martín-López; Vicente Martín; Oscar Martinez-Nieto; Iciar Martinez-Lopez; Michel F Martinez...; Ángel Martinez-Perez; Juliana F Mazzeu; Eleuterio Merayo ...; Pablo Minguez; Victor Moreno Cuerda; Silviene F Oliveira; Eva Ortega-Paino; Mara Parellada; Estela Paz-Artal; Ney PC Santos; Patricia Pérez-Ma...; Patricia Perez; M Elena Pérez-Tomás; Teresa Perucho; Mel·lina Pinsach-...; Guillermo Pita; Ericka N Pompa-Mera; Gloria L Porras-H...; Aurora Pujol; Soraya Ramiro León; Salvador Resino; Marianne R Fernandes; Emilio Rodríguez-...; Fernando Rodrigue...; José A Rodriguez-...; Francisco Ruiz-Ca...; Javier Ruiz-Horni...; Pablo Ryan; José Manuel Soria; Juan Carlos Souto; Eduardo Tamayo; Alvaro Tamayo-Vel...; Juan Carlos Tarac...; Alejandro Teper; Lilian Torres-Tobar; Miguel Urioste; Juan Valencia-Ramos; Zuleima Yáñez; Ruth Zarate; Itziar de Rojas; Agustín Ruiz; Pascual Sánchez; Luis Miguel Real; ; Encarna Guillen-N...; Carmen Ayuso; Esteban Parra; José A Riancho; Augusto Rojas-Mar...; Carlos Flores; Pablo Lapunzina; Ángel Carracedo
• Keywords: Male; QH301-705.5; none; Science; SNP; American populations; Novel risk loci; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Risk Factors; None; genomics; Genetics; GWAS; Humans; genetics; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Biology (General); Aged; Medicina. Salud; SARS-CoV-2; Q; R; COVID-19; Genetics and Genomics; Genomics; Middle Aged; Hospitalization; Latin America; Genetic Loci; Medicine; Female; Genome-Wide Association Study

The genetic basis of severe COVID-19 has been thoroughly studied, and many genetic risk factors shared between populations have been identified. However, reduced sample sizes from non-European groups have limited the discovery of population-specific common risk loci. In this second study nested in the SCOURGE consortium, we conducted a GWAS for COVID-19 hospitalization in admixed Americans, comprising a total of 4,702 hospitalized cases recruited by SCOURGE and seven other participating studies in the COVID-19 Host Genetic Initiative. We identified four genome-wide significant associations, two of which constitute novel loci and were first discovered in Latin American populations ( BAZ2B and DDIAS ). A trans-ethnic meta-analysis revealed another novel cross-population risk locus in CREBBP . Finally, we assessed the performance of a cross-ancestry polygenic risk score in the SCOURGE admixed American cohort. This study constitutes the largest GWAS for COVID-19 hospitalization in admixed Latin Americans conducted to date. This allowed to reveal novel risk loci and emphasize the need of considering the diversity of populations in genomic research.