New research is exploring another dimension to the puzzle of how people experience this infection: genes. Hollenbach says it’s the job of HLA molecules to present pieces of proteins to the immune system so they can be recognized if they’re ever encountered again. The researchers then took a closer look at this group to see if there were any similarities in the genes that coded for their HLA molecules, and there were. So folks with these HLA molecules likely already had some preexisting immunity against SARS-CoV2 and were able to clear the virus before it caused symptoms, Hollenbach said. Genes, Zeberg said, are likely only one part of reason why someone develops long Covid, and there are probably a slew of genes involved.

---

Persons: Covid, ”, Jill Hollenbach, Hollenbach, they’re, “, ” Hollenbach, they’d, it’s, Gene, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, Hugo Zeberg, Zeberg Organizations: CNN, University of California, San Francisco’s Weill, for Neurosciences, Karolinska Institute, Get CNN, CNN Health, Karolinska . Genes Locations: San, Stockholm, FOXP4