Long covid may be linked to one gene

August 9, 2023 5:41 AM

A new clue to the reason some people come down with long COVID (NPR)
posted by tiny frying pan (12 comments total)

I'm not clear on how these two statements fit together:

NPR: 'One thing that Hollenbach says the scientific community agrees upon, and that this new research reinforces, is that, "you're more likely to have long COVID If you've had a very severe bout of COVID."'

Study: "the observed effect of the FOXP4 variant on Long COVID still exceeds what would be expected based on the association with severity alone."

That is, if you've got this version of the gene, are you more likely to get long COVID even if you've had a relatively mild infection? (Because that's scary!)
posted by mittens at 6:24 AM on August 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yes, that seems to be what they're saying -- there are several things that may lead to Long COVID, and among those things are both and independently 1) having a severe bout of COVID, and 2) having the FOXP4 variant gene.
posted by Etrigan at 6:30 AM on August 9, 2023 [5 favorites]

Another thing to note is this is not saying everyone with FOXP4 will get Long COVID. This is an association in people with Long COVID, not a statement about the general population.
posted by hydropsyche at 7:53 AM on August 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

Related: Beth Mole posted another of her excellent Covid update articles on ArsTechnica earlier this week.
posted by fairmettle at 8:53 AM on August 9, 2023 [3 favorites]

Perhaps a more accurate title would be “genetic link, among other factors, affects likelihood of long COVID, suggests further research avenues that may help scientists identify causes and develop treatments.” It seems like it’s really the latter part that is the important detail here.
posted by eviemath at 8:54 AM on August 9, 2023 [4 favorites]

Certainly I find information about the causes interesting, but as I continue to conserve every minuscule drop of energy I have 1+ year after having non-severe Covid, I'm a whole lot more interested in treatments, which don't seem so forthcoming. Definitely looking forward to seeing the results of the studies about paxlovid to treat long Covid.
posted by obfuscation at 9:02 AM on August 9, 2023 [8 favorites]

I did 23andme - does anyone know if there is a way to check my results to see if I have this gene variant?
posted by Mallenroh at 11:12 AM on August 9, 2023 [3 favorites]

Yeah, I'd love to too, but from previous articles where I've wondered how I can find out, they don't seem to have any way for Joe or Jane Blow to find out this information :(
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:46 PM on August 9, 2023

The study says that if you have FOXP4 then your risk of long covid (odds ratio) is 1.6. So, you're 60% more likely to get LC than a person without FOXP4. This is significant but is nowhere near saying "everyone with FOXP4 will get LC and everyone without FOXP4 won't get LC."
posted by neuron at 1:04 PM on August 9, 2023 [7 favorites]

I did 23andme - does anyone know if there is a way to check my results to see if I have this gene variant?

So from what I can tell 23andme doesn't sequence these particular genes, or at least it didn't for me.
You are looking for lead variant rs9367106 and related variants: rs7741164, rs55889968, rs9381074
Source, Paper

If you are wanting more information about your genome than 23andme gives you, you can download the raw 23andme data, and upload it (after doing your research on the privacy implications of so doing) to a service like Promethease - https://promethease.com
which will take $12 (USD) and give you a nice searchable/filterable report linked to SNpedia https://www.snpedia.com/

Have a look at the sample reports on promethease first, its primarily geared at professionals and researchers, so a certain baseline knowledge of genetics and gene expression helps. Also keep in mind errors happen, and the 23andme reports were reviewed by a trained human but only for a few specific things.

At a minimum you need to go in with the knowledge that just because you have a gene associated with an increased risk of something doesn't mean you should start panicking that you have (insert obscure disease here).

That said, I have had friends who discovered that their diagnosable chronic symptoms were linked to hilariously obscure genetic disease that didn't show up on conventual tests, but were later confirmed with specialized tests, directly as a result of a Promethease report.
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 1:51 PM on August 9, 2023 [5 favorites]

Just out of curiosity, what does 23andme give you if you download raw data?
posted by nickzoic at 6:57 PM on August 9, 2023

Oh never mind, I found this.

Okay so only specific SNPs, not the whole sequence.
posted by nickzoic at 7:25 PM on August 9, 2023 [1 favorite]