Human genetics can inform the biology and epidemiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by pinpointing causal mechanisms that explain why some individuals become more severely affected by the disease upon infection by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. Large-scale genetic association studies, encompassing both rare and common genetic variants, have used different study designs and multiple disease phenotype definitions to identify several genomic regions associated with COVID-19. Along with a multitude of follow-up studies, these findings have increased our understanding of disease aetiology and provided routes for management of COVID-19. Important emergent opportunities include the clinical translatability of genetic risk prediction, the repurposing of existing drugs, exploration of variable host effects of different viral strains, study of inter-individual variability in vaccination response and understanding the long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Beyond the current pandemic, these transferrable opportunities are likely to affect the study of many infectious diseases.

人类遗传学可以通过查明因果机制来了解 2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 的生物学和流行病学，这些机制解释了为什么有些人在感染严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 (SARS-CoV-2) 后会受到更严重的影响。病毒。涵盖罕见和常见遗传变异的大规模遗传关联研究使用不同的研究设计和多种疾病表型定义来识别与 COVID-19 相关的几个基因组区域。连同大量的后续研究，这些发现增加了我们对疾病病因学的了解，并为管理 COVID-19 提供了途径。重要的新兴机会包括遗传风险预测的临床可转化性、现有药物的重新利用、探索不同病毒株的可变宿主效应、研究疫苗反应的个体间差异以及了解 SARS-CoV-2 的长期后果感染。除了当前的大流行之外，这些可转移的机会可能会影响许多传染病的研究。