Covid patients up to twice as likely to be seriously ill with Neanderthal gene

19 September 2023 , 11:37

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Reconstruction of the environment of a Neanderthal man in the mid-Paleolithic period (Image: Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

The Neanderthals are our ancestors - a now extinct species of humans who died out around 40,000 years ago. The primitive humans lived in Eurasia, a bloc of land that covered what we now know to be Europe and Asia.

The Neanderthals lived in caves, hunted for their food and were tough and accustomed to harsh climates and weather. But according to a new study, if you have Neanderthal genes, you are twice as likely to develop a very dangerous and even life-threatening form of Covid.

Neanderthal DNA is already associated with autoimmune diseases, type 2 diabetes, and prostate cancer. However, when researching the links between Neanderthal genes and Covid, Italian researchers discovered people with three specific Neanderthal gene variations were twice more likely to get severe pneumonia and three times more likely to be hospitalised with a ventilator after contracting the virus.

Neanderthal DNA is already associated with autoimmune diseases, type 2 diabetes, and prostate cancer (Getty Images)

The new study, published in the journal iScience, was led by researchers with the nonprofit Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research. The team analysed a sample of nearly 1,200 people in the Bergamo province, home to the epicentre of Covid in early 2020.

Scientists found that 33 percent of people in Bergamo with the Neanderthal haplotype, a set of DNA variants along a single chromosome that tend to be inherited together, developed severe cases of Covid. More than 75 percent of the participants were born in the Bergamo province, chosen as the sample region due to the severe cases and deaths associated with Covid.

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In March 2020 alone, 670 people died in the city of 120,000 inhabitants and almost 6,000 in the province died - five or six times the normal toll for that time of year. The team conducted an ORIGN test during the experiment, which included breaking down each subject's ancestry.

The three variants were identified on chromosome 3, known as the 3p21.31 locus. The study says: "The lead variant at this locus lies in an intron of LZTFL1 and is in linkage with markers spanning a cluster of inflammatory genes, including CCR9, CXCR6, and XCR1."

A previous study, conducted in 2020, found similar results and stated having Neanderthal genes could make you more at risk from severe Covid. In a study of 3,199 hospital patients with coronavirus in Italy and Spain, researchers found the genetic signature was linked to a more severe illness.

Lead author Professor Hugo Zeberg, from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, said: "The increase in risk is 60 to 70 percent if you carry one copy of the Neanderthal variant and three times the risk if you have two copies - one from your father and one from your mother.

The gene variant was first found in the remains of a Neanderthal in Croatia around 50,000 years ago (Getty Images)

"Later studies estimate the risk increase to be even higher, with twice the risk if you have one copy and up to a five-fold increase if you have two copies."

The gene variant was first found in the remains of a Neanderthal in Croatia around 50,000 years ago and continues to be found in millions of modern-day humans. Not everyone has this variant – it is most common among people of South Asian ethnicity, of whom around 50 percent have it.

This difference may contribute to the differences in severity of Covid-19 that have been observed between different populations. It is less common in Europe, where about 16 percent of people carry it.

Bangladesh has the highest number of carriers at 63 percent. You can find out how much Neanderthal DNA you have using a commercial ancestry test, to see whether you're more likely to be seriously affected by Covid.

Anna Willis