Human genetic variants associated with COVID-19 severity are enriched in immune and epithelium regulatory networks

Human genetic variants can influence the severity of infection with SARS-COV-2. Several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been conducted to identify human risk loci that may be involved with COVID-19 severity. However, candidate genes were investigated in the genomic proximity of each locus without considering their functional cellular contexts. Here, we compiled regulatory networks of 77 human contexts to interpret these risk loci by revealing their relevant contexts and associated transcript factors (TF), regulatory elements (REs), and target genes (TGs). 21 human contexts were identified to be associated with COVID-19 severity and grouped into two categories: immune cells and epithelium cells. We further investigated the risk loci in regulatory network of immune cells, epithelium cells and their crosstalk. Two genomic clusters, chemokine receptors cluster and OAS cluster showed the strongest association with COVID-19 severity in the context specific regulatory networks.