Effect of Genetic Factors on COVID-19 Susceptibility and Severity: A Review

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a severe infection with respiratory and systemic manifestations. This infectious disease has a complex course and manifests itself with various clinical presentations, ranging from asymptomatic infection to a severe clinical course. These variations in severity have raised the question of whether the genetic or epigenetic variations have a role in COVID-19 susceptibility or severity, and that these factors can be used to predict the disease course. A whole-genome sequencing performed on 95 samples of SARS-CoV-2 identified 116 unique mutations, most of which were missense and synonymous. Moreover, some studies have reported a relationship between the COVID-19 severity and the genes ACE and TMPRSS2. The present review provides an overview of different genes that have been found to be implicated or related to the susceptibility to COVID-19 or its severity.