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Abstract: SA-OR08

Genetic Findings in COVID-19-Positive Patients from a Cohort of Kidney and Liver Patients at Columbia University

Session Information

Category: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

  • 000 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Authors

  • Cocchi, Enrico, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Marasa, Maddalena, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Elliott, Mark, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Zheng, Jason, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Lewis, Jordann, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Gras, Rafael, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Piva, Stacy E., Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Kil, Byum hee, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Chatterjee, Debanjana, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Nicasio, Vanna M., Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Morban, Maria Mercedes, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Ghavami, Iman, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Liang, Judy, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Mo, Anna, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Stevens, Kelsey O., Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Jin, Gina, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Kim, Jung Soo, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Zhang, Junying, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
  • Gharavi, Ali G., Columbia University, New York, New York, United States

Group or Team Name

  • Gharavi Lab.
Background

Patients with preexisting chronic kidney (CKD) and liver disease and liver are more at risk from COVID-19, but reasons for variability in disease susceptibility and severity is still poorly understood. Given the high infection rate in New York City, we conducted a COVID-19 assessment survey in a cohort of CKD and liver patients previously consented into genetic studies.

Methods

Between March and August 2020, we completed 1601 unique IRB-approved COVID-19 assessment surveys. The survey covered COVID-19 symptoms, exposure risk, PCR and/or serology testing, and hospitalization. 298 of those patients were exome sequenced. We analyzed differences in COVID-19 PCR, serology and hospitalization rate and genetic analysis to identify possibly associated variants in the immune/coagulation pathways, suggested to be involved in COVID-19 susceptibility/severity by recent publicationw. We also analyzed variants based on the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) guidelines for clinical annotation of genetic results

Results

Hispanic/Latino patients were more likely to have a positive COVID-19 PCR (Fisher Exact Test p: 0.01, 29.5% vs 16.7%), serology (Fisher Exact Test p: 0.02, 22.9% vs 9.7%) and hospitalization (Fisher Exact Test p: 0.01, 29.5% vs 16.7%). Patients with glomerulopathy had lower positive COVID-19 PCR tests (Fisher Exact Test p: 0.01, 14.7% vs 48.7%). Analysis of exome data identified an excess number of rare variants in genes in the immune dysregulation pathways among patients with positive COVID-19 PCR test, (fisher p: 0.01, 75% vs 18%). These results were mostly driven by rare variants in CASP10 , which were more common among the Hispanic/Latino population.

Conclusion

We confirm that Hispanic/Latino ethnicity is a significant risk factor for positive COVID-19 PCR, serology and hospitalization. The analysis of the genetic mechanisms in immune/coagulation pathways identified an excess of rare variants in the CASP10 gene, results that overlap with Hispanic/Latino ethnicity.