Individual HLA-A, -B, -C, and -DRB1 Genotypes Are No Major Factors Which Determine COVID-19 Severity

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

HLA molecules are key restrictive elements to present intracellular antigens at the crossroads of an effective T-cell response against SARS-CoV-2. To determine the impact of the HLA genotype on the severity of SARS-CoV-2 courses, we investigated data from 6,919 infected individuals. HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 allotypes grouped into HLA supertypes by functional or predicted structural similarities of the peptide-binding grooves did not predict COVID-19 severity. Further, we did not observe a heterozygote advantage or a benefit from HLA diplotypes with more divergent physicochemical peptide-binding properties. Finally, numbers of in silico predicted viral T-cell epitopes did not correlate with the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections. These findings suggest that the HLA genotype is no major factor determining COVID-19 severity. Moreover, our data suggest that the spike glycoprotein alone may allow for abundant T-cell epitopes to mount robust T-cell responses not limited by the HLA genotype.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number698193
JournalFrontiers in immunology
Volume12
Publication statusPublished - 26 Jul 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85112214697
ORCID /0000-0001-6022-6827/work/127317483
ORCID /0000-0002-8704-4713/work/141544263
ORCID /0000-0001-9473-3018/work/148606178
ORCID /0000-0002-0320-4223/work/150884948

Keywords

Research priority areas of TU Dresden

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ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • HLA, SARS-CoV-2, immunogenetics, in silico prediction, T-cell epitopes

Library keywords