ArticleEBioMedicine2022
Multi-ancestry Mendelian randomization of omics traits revealing drug targets of COVID-19 severity.
Article in EBioMedicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genome-Wide Association Studies of Hospitalized Influenza Identify Four Risk Loci and Reveal Shared and Unique Genetic Factors Compared With COVID-19.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2026Pooled it
- Genetically prioritized mitochondrial regulators of advanced renal failure: multi-omic Mendelian randomization and biological plausibility assessment in allograft fibrosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Lung cancer and COVID-19 susceptibility and severity: a Mendelian randomization analysis.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Identification of novel therapeutic targets for cognitive performance and associations with brain health.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Proteome-Wide Mendelian Randomization Identifies Candidate Causal Proteins for Cardiovascular Diseases.Advanced genetics (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2025Article
- A robust cis-Mendelian randomization method with application to drug target discovery.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Article
- Integration of human organoids single-cell transcriptomic profiles and human genetics repurposes critical cell type-specific drug targets for severe COVID-19.Cell proliferation · 2024Article
- Sex-stratified genome-wide association and transcriptome-wide Mendelian randomization studies reveal drug targets of heart failure.Cell reports. Medicine · 2024Article
- Plasma Proteome-Wide Mendelian Randomization Analysis Reveals Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets for Different Stages of COVID-19.Transboundary and emerging diseases · 2024Article
- Exploring the gut microbiota's effect on temporomandibular joint disorder: a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Article
- Genetic insight into the putative causal proteins and druggable targets of osteoporosis: a large-scale proteome-wide mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in genetics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRecent omic studies prioritised several drug targets associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity. However, little evidence was provided to systematically estimate the effect of drug targets on COVID-19 severity in multiple ancestries.
methodsIn this study, we applied Mendelian randomization (MR) and colocalization approaches to understand the putative causal effects of 16,059 transcripts and 1608 proteins on COVID-19 severity in European and effects of 610 proteins on COVID-19 severity in African ancestry. We further integrated genetics, clinical and literature evidence to prioritise drug targets. Additional sensitivity analyses including multi-trait colocalization and phenome-wide MR were conducted to test for MR assumptions.
findingsMR and colocalization prioritized four protein targets, FCRL3, ICAM5, ENTPD5 and OAS1 that showed effect on COVID-19 severity in European ancestry. One protein target, SERPINA1 showed a stronger effect in African ancestry but much weaker effect in European ancestry (odds ratio [OR] in Africans=0.369, 95%CI=0.203 to 0.668, P = 9.96 × 10
interpretationOur study identified six proteins as showing putative causal effects on COVID-19 severity. OAS1 and SERPINA1 were targets of existing drugs in trials as potential COVID-19 treatments. ICAM1, ICAM5 and FCRL3 are related to the immune system. Across the six targets, OAS1 has no reliable instrument in African ancestry; SERPINA1, FCRL3, ICAM5 and ENTPD5 showed a different level of putative causal evidence in European and African ancestries, which highlights the importance of more powerful ancestry-specific GWAS and value of multi-ancestry MR in informing the effects of drug targets on COVID-19 across different populations. This study provides a first step towards clinical investigation of beneficial and adverse effects of COVID-19 drug targets.
fundingNo.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.