{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,3]],"date-time":"2026-07-03T17:14:19Z","timestamp":1783098859018,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":110,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,8]],"date-time":"2021-05-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1620432000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009619","name":"Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["JP19fk0108104"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP19fk0108104"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009619","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The elderly and patients with several comorbidities experience more severe cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) than healthy patients without underlying medical conditions. However, it is unclear why these people are prone to developing alveolar pneumonia, rapid exacerbations, and death. Therefore, we hypothesized that people with comorbidities may have a genetic predisposition that makes them more vulnerable to various factors; for example, they are likely to become more severely ill when infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To test this hypothesis, we searched the literature extensively. Polymorphisms of genes, such as those that encode angiotensin-converting enzyme 1 (ACE1), have been associated with numerous comorbidities, such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and obesity, and there are potential mechanisms to explain these associations (e.g., DD-type carriers have greater ACE1 activity, and patients with a genetic alpha-1 anti-trypsin (AAT) deficiency lack control over inflammatory mediators). Since comorbidities are associated with chronic inflammation and are closely related to the renin\u2013angiotensin\u2013aldosterone system (RAAS), these individuals may already have a mild ACE1\/ACE2 imbalance before viral infection, which increases their risk for developing severe cases of COVID-19. However, there is still much debate about the association between ACE1 D\/I polymorphism and comorbidities. The best explanation for this discrepancy could be that the D allele and DD subtypes are associated with comorbidities, but the DD genotype alone does not have an exceptionally large effect. This is also expected since the ACE1 D\/I polymorphism is only an intron marker. We also discuss how polymorphisms of AAT and other genes are involved in comorbidities and the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Presumably, a combination of multiple genes and non-genetic factors is involved in the establishment of comorbidities and aggravation of COVID-19.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms22095000","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,9]],"date-time":"2021-05-09T21:32:46Z","timestamp":1620595966000},"page":"5000","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":24,"title":["Does Genetic Predisposition Contribute to the Exacerbation of COVID-19 Symptoms in Individuals with Comorbidities and Explain the Huge Mortality Disparity between the East and the West?"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Naoki","family":"Yamamoto","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Genome Medical Sciences Project, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Ichikawa 272-8516, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rain","family":"Yamamoto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Drug Development and Regulatory Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, Keio University, Tokyo 105-8512, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3109-9678","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yasuo","family":"Ariumi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Retroelement, Joint Research Center for Human Retrovirus Infection, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-0811, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Masashi","family":"Mizokami","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Genome Medical Sciences Project, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Ichikawa 272-8516, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kunitada","family":"Shimotohno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Genome Medical Sciences Project, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Ichikawa 272-8516, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hiroshi","family":"Yoshikura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2451","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMcp2009575","article-title":"Severe Covid-19","volume":"383","author":"Berlin","year":"2020","journal-title":"N. 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