PMID- 33785044
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20210403
IS  - 1742-4933 (Print)
IS  - 1742-4933 (Electronic)
IS  - 1742-4933 (Linking)
VI  - 18
IP  - 1
DP  - 2021 Mar 30
TI  - Hypothetical COVID-19 protection mechanism: hints from centenarians.
PG  - 15
LID - 10.1186/s12979-021-00226-z [doi]
LID - 15
AB  - The risk of serious complications and the fatality rate due to COVID-19 pandemic 
      have proven particularly higher in older persons, putting a further strain in 
      healthcare system as we dramatically observed.COVID-19 is not exclusively 
      gerophile (gero "old" and philia "love") as young people can be infected, even if 
      older people experience more severe symptoms and mortality due to their greater 
      frailty. Indeed, frailty could complicate the course of COVID-19, much more than 
      the number of years lived. As demonstration, there are centenarians showing 
      remarkable capacity to recover after coronavirus infection.We hypothesize that 
      centenarian's portfolio could help in identifying protective biological 
      mechanisms underlying the coronavirus infection.The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) 
      is one of the major genetic regions associated with human longevity, due to its 
      central role in the development of adaptive immune response and modulation of the 
      individual's response to life threatening diseases. The HLA locus seems to be 
      crucial in influencing susceptibility and severity of COVID-19.In this 
      hypothesis, we assume that the biological process in which HLA are involved may 
      explain some aspects of coronavirus infection in centenarians, although we cannot 
      rule out other biological mechanisms that these extraordinary persons are able to 
      adopt to cope with the infection.
FAU - Guerini, Franca Rosa
AU  - Guerini FR
AD  - IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, ONLUS, Milan, Italy.
FAU - Cesari, Matteo
AU  - Cesari M
AD  - Geriatric Unit, IRCCS Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri, Milan, Italy.
AD  - Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, 
      Italy.
FAU - Arosio, Beatrice
AU  - Arosio B
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-0615-3580
AD  - Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, 
      Italy. beatrice.arosio@unimi.it.
AD  - Geriatric Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, 
      Italy. beatrice.arosio@unimi.it.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20210330
PL  - England
TA  - Immun Ageing
JT  - Immunity & ageing : I & A
JID - 101235427
PMC - PMC8008020
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Aging
OT  - COVID-19
OT  - Centenarians
OT  - Frailty
OT  - HLA
COIS- There are no competing interests.
EDAT- 2021/04/01 06:00
MHDA- 2021/04/01 06:01
PMCR- 2021/03/30
CRDT- 2021/03/31 05:42
PHST- 2020/12/26 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2021/03/15 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2021/03/31 05:42 [entrez]
PHST- 2021/04/01 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2021/04/01 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2021/03/30 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1186/s12979-021-00226-z [pii]
AID - 226 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/s12979-021-00226-z [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Immun Ageing. 2021 Mar 30;18(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s12979-021-00226-z.