COVID-19 genetic risk variants are associated with expression of multiple genes in diverse immune cell types

Abstract

Common genetic polymorphisms associated with severity of COVID-19 illness can be utilized for discovering molecular pathways and cell types driving disease pathogenesis. Here, we assessed the effects of 679 COVID-19-risk variants on gene expression in a wide-range of immune cell types. Severe COVID-19-risk variants were significantly associated with the expression of 11 protein-coding genes, and overlapped with either target gene promoter or <i>cis</i> -regulatory regions that interact with target promoters in the cell types where their effects are most prominent. For example, we identified that the association between variants in the 3p21.31 risk locus and the expression of <i>CCR2</i> in classical monocytes is likely mediated through an active cis-regulatory region that interacted with <i>CCR2</i> promoter specifically in monocytes. The expression of several other genes showed prominent genotype-dependent effects in non-classical monocytes, NK cells, B cells, or specific T cell subtypes, highlighting the potential of COVID-19 genetic risk variants to impact the function of diverse immune cell types and influence severe disease manifestations.