A study by the University of São Paulo identified a potential genetic factor that indicates potential protection against Covid-19.
THE CNN Radio biologist Mateus Vidigal, from the Center for Human Genome and Stem Cell Studies, explained that in April 2020, reports of people who had close contact with infected people and who still did not contract the disease drew attention.
For that reason, the researchers sought out these individuals and got more than 2,000 responses from similar cases.
“We closed this study with couples who had this contact, shared a house and bed, and we investigated the genetics, with a blood sample, we isolated the DNA looking for different genes in the infected individual and the ‘resistant’ individual.”
He explained that “we identified some genes related to resistance, (…) we think that somehow these genes protected against Covid”.
According to the biologist, a parallel study also investigated elderly people over 90 who had severe cases of Covid-19: “We found the same resistance-related genes in them.”
Mateus highlighted that the identification of the genes involved was “an important step” in knowing “what makes a person easily contract Covid and which will have resistance.”
With this, it will be possible to have robust data for “creation of efficient drugs and also more effective vaccines, the therapy of the future is always observing the genetics of the individual, person by person”.
*Produced by Bruna Sales
Source: CNN Brasil
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