Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) includes a large set of genes with important actions in immune response against viral infection. Numerous studies have revealed the existence of significant associations between certain HLA alleles and the susceptibility and prognosis of different infectious diseases. In this pilot study we analyse the binding affinity between 66 class I HLA alleles and SARS-CoV-2 viral peptides, and its association with the severity of the disease.

A total of 45 Spanish patients with mild, moderate and severe SARS-CoV-2 infection were typed for HLA class I; after that, we analysed if an in silico model of HLA I-viral peptide binding affinity and classical HLA supertypes could be correlated to the severity of the disease. Our results suggest that patients with mild disease present Class I HLA molecules with a higher theoretical capacity for binding SARS-Cov-2 peptides and showed greater heterozygosity when comparing them with moderate and severe groups. In this regard, identifying HLA-SARS-CoV-2 peptides binding differences between individuals would help to clarify the heterogeneity of clinical responses to the disease and will also be useful to guide a personalized treatment according to its particular risk.

人类白细胞抗原 (HLA) 包含大量基因，在针对病毒感染的免疫反应中具有重要作用。大量研究表明某些HLA等位基因与不同传染病的易感性和预后之间存在显着关联。在这项初步研究中，我们分析了 66 个 I 类 HLA 等位基因和 SARS-CoV-2 病毒肽之间的结合亲和力，及其与疾病严重程度的关联。

共有 45 名西班牙轻度、中度和重度 SARS-CoV-2 感染患者进行了 HLA I 类分型；之后，我们分析了 HLA I 病毒肽结合亲和力和经典 HLA 超型的计算机模型是否与疾病的严重程度相关。我们的结果表明，轻度疾病患者的 I 类 HLA 分子具有更高的理论结合 SARS-Cov-2 肽的能力，并且与中度和重度患者相比，表现出更大的杂合性。在这方面，识别个体之间HLA-SARS-CoV-2肽结合差异将有助于阐明对该疾病的临床反应的异质性，也将有助于根据其特定风险指导个性化治疗。