Type I interferon pathway genetic variants in severe COVID-19

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been over 760 million reported cases and over 6 million deaths caused by this disease worldwide. The severity of COVID-19 is based on symptoms presented by the patient and is divided as asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe, and critical. The manifestations are interconnected with genetic variations. The innate immunity is the quickest response mechanism of an organism against viruses. Type I interferon pathway plays a key role in antiviral responses due to viral replication inhibition in infected cells and adaptive immunity stimulation induced by interferon molecules. Thus, variants in type I interferon pathway's genes are being studied in different COVID-19 manifestations. This review summarizes the role of variants in type I interferon pathway's genes on prognosis and severity progression of COVID-19.