A genetic analysis of patients with COVID-19 published on Wednesday, indicates that the blood group could influence whether someone develops severe symptoms of the disease.
The scientists compared the genes of thousands of patients in Europe found that those with type A blood were more likely to develop a serious illness, while those with type O were less likely.
The report published in the New England Journal of Medicine does not prove that there is a connection with the blood group, but corroborates a report earlier in China on this link.
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“Most of us discard it because it was a very crass,” said dr. Parameswaran Hari, a specialist in blood in the School of Medicine of Wisconsin, on the report of China. With the new work, “now what I think,” he said. “It could be very important.”
Ask for caution
However, other scientists urged caution.
Evidence that blood group has a role is “preliminary,… is not a sufficient signal to be sure,” said doctor Eric Topol, director of Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego.
The study, which involved scientists from Italy, Spain, Denmark, Germany, and other nations, compared around 2,000 patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19 with several thousand people who were healthy, developed mild symptoms of the disease or were asymptomatic. The researchers linked the variations of six genes with the likelihood of severe symptoms, including some that might have a role in the vulnerability of people to the virus. Also linked to the blood groups to possible risks.
Genetic studies
The majority of genetic studies such as this are much larger, so it would be important to see if other scientists can review other groups of patients to see if they are the same links, said Topol.
Many researchers have searched for clues about why some people who are infected with the coronavirus was sick of gravity and the other not so much. Be higher or to be a man seems to increase the risk, and scientists have examined the genes as another possible factor that influences the severity of the disease.
There are four groups, main blood: A, B, AB and O, and are determined “by the proteins on the surface of red blood cells,” said dr. Mary Horowitz, scientific director at the Centre for International Research in the Transplant of Blood and Marrow.
People with blood type O are more able to recognize certain proteins as foreign and that can be extended to proteins on the surface of the virus, explained Hari.
During the outbreak of SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by a cousin gene of the coronavirus that caused the current pandemic, “noted that people with blood type O were less likely to develop severe symptoms,” he added.
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