SARS-CoV-2 has spread rapidly across the world and is negatively impacting the global human population. COVID-19 patients display a wide variety of symptoms and clinical outcomes, including those attributed to genetic ancestry. Alu retrotransposons have played an important role in human evolution, and their variants influence host response to viral infection. Intronic Alus regulate gene expression through several mechanisms, including both genetic and epigenetic pathways. With respect to SARS-CoV-2, an intronic Alu within the ACE gene is hypothesized to be associated with COVID-19 susceptibility and morbidity. Here, we review specific Alu polymorphisms that are of particular interest when considering host response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, especially polymorphic Alu insertions in genes associated with immune response and coagulation/fibrinolysis cascade. We posit that additional research focused on Alu-related pathways could yield novel biomarkers capable of predicting clinical outcomes as well as patient-specific treatment strategies for COVID-19 and related infectious diseases.

中文翻译：

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Alu 逆转录转座子与 COVID-19 的易感性和发病率


SARS-CoV-2 已在世界范围内迅速传播，并对全球人口产生负面影响。 COVID-19 患者表现出各种各样的症状和临床结果，包括那些归因于遗传血统的症状和临床结果。 Alu 逆转录转座子在人类进化中发挥了重要作用，其变异体影响宿主对病毒感染的反应。 Intronic Alus 通过多种机制调节基因表达，包括遗传和表观遗传途径。对于 SARS-CoV-2，ACE 基因内的内含子 Alu 被假设与 COVID-19 的易感性和发病率相关。在这里，我们回顾了在考虑宿主对 SARS-CoV-2 感染的反应时特别感兴趣的特定 Alu 多态性，特别是与免疫反应和凝血/纤溶级联相关的基因中的多态性 Alu 插入。我们认为，专注于 Alu 相关途径的额外研究可能会产生能够预测临床结果以及针对 COVID-19 和相关传染病的患者特异性治疗策略的新型生物标志物。