APOE e4 genotype predicts severe COVID-19 in the UK Biobank community cohort
Not one I would have predicted, that's for sure...
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.07.20094409v2
The apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene makes a protein which, when combined with fat, becomes a lipoprotein. The lipoprotein ApoE is a very low-density lipoprotein, responsible in part for removing cholesterol from the bloodstream. Variations in ApoE affect cholesterol metabolism, which in turn alter your chances of having heart disease and in particular a heart attack or a stroke. Variations in ApoE are also associated with altered odds of having Alzheimer's disease and other diseases.
There are three relatively common allelic variants of ApoE, as defined by two SNPs, rs429358 and rs7412 known as ApoE-ε2, ApoE-ε3, and ApoE-ε4. The proteins produced by these genes are called ApoE2, ApoE3, and ApoE4. The most common variant overall is the "standard" ApoE-ε3, and therefore more people inherited one ApoE-ε3 from each parent than any other of the possible pairs of variants. Note that each of these types can actually have additional changes too, so there are different subtypes as well.
[TABLE="class: wikitable"]
[TR]
[TH="align: center"]Common name[/TH]
[TH="align: center"]
Genoset[/TH]
[TH="align: center"]
Magnitude[/TH]
[TH="align: center"]
rs429358[/TH]
[TH="align: center"]
rs7412[/TH]
[TH="align: center"]Comment[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Apo-ε1/ε1[/TD]
[TD]
gs267[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD](C;C)[/TD]
[TD](T;T)[/TD]
[TD]the rare
missing allele[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Apo-ε1/ε2[/TD]
[TD]
gs271[/TD]
[TD]2.5[/TD]
[TD](C;T)[/TD]
[TD](T;T)[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Apo-ε1/ε3[/TD]
[TD]
gs270[/TD]
[TD]2.6[/TD]
[TD](C;T)[/TD]
[TD](C;T)[/TD]
[TD]ambiguous ε2/ε4 or ε1/ε3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Apo-ε2/ε4[/TD]
[TD]
gs270[/TD]
[TD]2.6[/TD]
[TD](C;T)[/TD]
[TD](C;T)[/TD]
[TD]ambiguous ε2/ε4 or ε1/ε3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Apo-ε1/ε4[/TD]
[TD]
gs272[/TD]
[TD]2.5[/TD]
[TD](C;C)[/TD]
[TD](C;T)[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Apo-ε2/ε2[/TD]
[TD]
gs268[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD](T;T)[/TD]
[TD](T;T)[/TD]
[TD]good; lowest risk[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Apo-ε2/ε3[/TD]
[TD]
gs269[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD](T;T)[/TD]
[TD](C;T)[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Apo-ε3/ε3[/TD]
[TD]
gs246[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD](T;T)[/TD]
[TD](C;C)[/TD]
[TD]the most common[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Apo-ε3/ε4[/TD]
[TD]
gs141[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD](C;T)[/TD]
[TD](C;C)[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Apo-ε4/ε4[/TD]
[TD]
gs216[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD](C;C)[/TD]
[TD](C;C)[/TD]
[TD]~11x increased Alzheimer's risk[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
A rare form of the ApoE3 allele, rs121918393, also known as the Christchurch (R136S) mutation, appears to convey a significant amount of resistance to PSEN1-based form of autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s, according to a 2019 study.[1]
There's more. Ancestry apparently does a lousy job with this and the results might be inaccurate.
For me:
rs429358:TT
rs7412:CT
Well, I guess I'm E2/E3.
Not the worst.
Another bad one:rs4420638
I'm AA. GG is trouble.
I wonder if this is about whether it affects your heart or just gives you pneumonia.
At any rate, take it all with a grain of salt. This is not yet exact science.