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They used to live in caves, hunt for food, and were generally tougher than humans today.
But a new study finds that if you have Neanderthal genes, you are twice as likely to develop a potentially deadly form of Covid.
DNA from the species that became extinct about 40,000 years ago is associated with autoimmune diseases, type 2 diabetes and prostate cancer.
A team of Italian researchers found that people with three Neanderthal genetic variations were twice as likely to suffer from severe pneumonia and three times more likely to be hospitalized on a ventilator after contracting the virus.
While the findings were part of an experiment, people can investigate how much Neanderthal DNA they have through commercial ancestry tests.
People who have developed life-threatening forms of Covid may have inherited genes from their Neanderthal ancestors, a new study suggests. Pictured is a statue made to look like a Neanderthal.
Neanderthals were a close human ancestor who died mysteriously about 40,000 years ago.
The species lived in Africa with early humans for millennia before moving to Europe about 300,000 years ago.
They were later joined by humans, who entered Eurasia about 48,000 years ago and mated, resulting in some genes appearing in modern humans.
The new study, published in the journal iScience, was led by researchers at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, a nonprofit organization.
The team analyzed a sample of almost 1,200 people. in the province of Bergamo, where the epicenter of the pandemic was recorded at the beginning of 2020.
Scientists found that 33 percent of people in Bergamo with the Neanderthal haplotype, a set of DNA variants along a single chromosome that tend to be inherited together, developed severe cases of Covid.
In March 2020 alone, 670 people died in this city of 120,000 inhabitants and almost 6,000 in the province of the same name, five or six times more than normal for that time of year.
More than 75 percent of the participants were born in the province of Bergamo, chosen as a sample region due to severe cases and deaths associated with Covid.
In March 2020 alone, 670 people died in this city of 120,000 inhabitants and almost 6,000 in the province of the same name, five or six times more than normal for that time of year.
The team performed an ORIGN test during the experiment, which included analyzing each subject’s ancestry.
The three variants were identified on chromosome 3, known as locus 3p21.31.
“The major variant at this locus is located in an intron of LZTFL1 and is linked to markers spanning a group of inflammatory genes, including CCR9, CXCR6, and XCR1,” the study reads.
A 2020 study found similar results, indicating that having Neanderthal genes could increase the risk of severe Covid.
In a study of 3,199 hospitalized coronavirus patients in Italy and Spain, researchers found that the genetic signature was linked to more severe disease.
Lead author Professor Hugo Zeberg, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said: “The increased risk is 60 to 70 per cent if you carry one copy of the Neanderthal variant and the risk is three times higher if you carry two copies.” : one from his father and one from his father.” one of your mother.
“Later studies estimate that the increased risk is even greater: double if you have one copy and up to five times if you have two copies.”
The genetic variant was first found in the remains of a Neanderthal in Croatia about 50,000 years ago and continues to be found in millions of modern humans.
Not everyone has this variant; It is most common among people of South Asian ethnicity, of whom around 50 percent suffer from it.
This difference may contribute to the differences in the severity of Covid-19 that have been observed between different populations.
It is less common in Europe, where about 16 percent of people carry it.
Bangladesh has the highest number of transporters at 63 percent.