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Interleukin-18 and COVID-19.
Schooling, C M; Li, M; Au Yeung, S L.
  • Schooling CM; Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
  • Li M; City University of New York, Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, New York, NY, USA.
  • Au Yeung SL; Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Epidemiol Infect ; 150: e14, 2021 12 16.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1747292
ABSTRACT
Vulnerability to coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 varies due to differences in interferon gamma (IFNγ) immunity. We investigated whether a key modifiable interferon precursor, interleukin-18, was related to COVID-19, overall and by severity, using Mendelian randomisation. We used four established genome-wide significant genetic predictors of interleukin-18 applied to the most recent genome-wide association study of COVID-19 (June 2021) to obtain Mendelian randomisation inverse variance weighted estimates by severity, i.e. any (cases = 112 612, non-cases = 2 474 079), hospitalised (cases = 24 274, non-cases = 2 061 529) and very severe (cases = 8779, non-cases = 1 001 875) COVID-19. To be comprehensive, we also conducted an exploratory analysis for IFNγ and two related cytokines with less well-established genetic predictors, i.e. interleukin-12 and interleukin-23. Genetically predicted interleukin-18 was associated with lower risk of any COVID-19 (odds ratio (OR) 0.96 per standard deviation, 95% confidence interval (0.94-0.99, P-value 0.004)) and of very severe COVID-19 (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.78-0.999, P-value 0.048). Sensitivity analysis and a more liberal genetic instrument selection gave largely similar results. Few genome-wide significant genetic predictors were available for IFNγ, interleukin-12 or interleukin-23, and no associations with COVID-19 were evident. Interleukin-18 could be a modifiable target to prevent COVID-19 and should be further explored in an experimental design.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Interleukin-18 / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Prognostic study / Randomized controlled trials Limits: Female / Humans / Male Language: English Journal: Epidemiol Infect Journal subject: Communicable Diseases / Epidemiology Year: 2021 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: S0950268821002636

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Interleukin-18 / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Prognostic study / Randomized controlled trials Limits: Female / Humans / Male Language: English Journal: Epidemiol Infect Journal subject: Communicable Diseases / Epidemiology Year: 2021 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: S0950268821002636