The rapid rise and global consequences of the novel coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) have again brought the focus of the scientific community on the possible host factors involved in patient response and outcome to exposure to the virus. The disease severity remains highly unpredictable, and individuals with none of the aforementioned risk factors may still develop severe COVID-19. It was shown that genotype-related factors like an ABO Blood Group affect COVID-19 severity, and the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 was higher for patients with blood type A and lower for patients with blood type O. Currently it is not clear which specific genes are associated with COVID-19 severity. The comparative analysis of COVID-19 and other viral infections allows us to predict that the variants within the interferon pathway genes may serve as markers of the magnitude of immune response to specific pathogens. In particular, various members of Class III interferons (lambda) are reviewed in detail.

新型冠状病毒病 19 (COVID-19) 的迅速蔓延及其在全球范围内造成的后果再次引起了科学界对患者反应和暴露于该病毒的结果所涉及的可能宿主因素的关注。疾病的严重程度仍然高度不可预测，没有上述危险因素的个体仍可能发展为严重的 COVID-19。研究表明，ABO 血型等基因型相关因素会影响 COVID-19 的严重程度，A 型血患者感染 SARS-CoV-2 的风险较高，O 型血患者感染 SARS-CoV-2 的风险较低。尚不清楚哪些特定基因与 COVID-19 的严重程度相关。通过对 COVID-19 和其他病毒感染的比较分析，我们可以预测干扰素途径基因内的变异可能作为对特定病原体的免疫反应强度的标志。特别是，详细审查了 III 类干扰素 (lambda) 的各种成员。