Genes may cause severe COVID 19

Even though COVID-19 is not a major issue to most people in 2024, researchers are still interested in learning why it had certain affects. The article discusses how researching about covid-19 is important since we get a better understanding of how the immune system reacts when it comes into contact with a pathogen. Especially, the research can be useful if another pandemic occurs in the future and we can be better equipped with knowledge on how to combat it.

The TLR7 gene is responsible for determining a person's reaction to the virus. Those who had a mutation in the gene causing it to be nonfunctional were more severely affected by the virus. Additionally, this gene is only found on the X chromosome which posed further questions since women have two and men only have one. Thus, women could have two chances at a functioning TLR7 gene but researchers still found that women frequently had the mutated TLR7 gene. Some research suggested that the "broken" TLR7 gene could influence function in the "healthy" copy.

This makes sense why many people had different reactions to covid. It makes me wonder if this gene is also why some people felt fine after the first vaccine but worse after the second and vice versa. I also wonder if this gene had any role in if someone was asymptomatic or not. Definitely an interesting study that brings about a lot of other questions.

Scientists Discover Genetic Cause of Lupus, a Chronic Autoimmune Disease

    A recent study published in the journal Nature and discussed in SciTechDaily found that a mutation in the TLR7 gene causes lupus. It is important to note that this is not the only way people get lupus and only makes up a small number of those with lupus, but it helps to make great strides towards treating and curing the disease. This being said, the article explains that many lupus patients seem to have overactivity in the TLR7 pathway. This further confirms the causal connection between TLR7 and lupus. On the other side, underactivity of TLR7 seems to be connected to severe COVID-19 cases. This means it would not be a good idea to simply deactivate the gene or to mutate it to be less active. Another major find as a result of this study is why lupus primarily affects women. The article explains that the TLR7 gene is found on the X chromosome. As a result, women have more of a chance than men to have a mutation in this gene since they have 2 X chromosomes. This stud has helped to shed a lot of light on some causes of lupus and why it affects the demographics it affects.