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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Med.

Sec. Infectious Diseases: Pathogenesis and Therapy

Genetic patterns related to von Willebrand Factor: implications on the need for mechanical ventilation, severity and death in COVID-19

Provisionally accepted
José López CastroJosé López Castro1Silvia Diz-de AlmeidaSilvia Diz-de Almeida2Manuel L. López ReboiroManuel L. López Reboiro1Cristina Sardiña GonzálezCristina Sardiña González1José A. RianchoJosé A. Riancho3Augusto Rojas-MartinezAugusto Rojas-Martinez4Pablo LapunzinaPablo Lapunzina5Carlos FloresCarlos Flores6RAQUEL CRUZ GUERRERORAQUEL CRUZ GUERRERO7,8,9*Angel CarracedoAngel Carracedo8
  • 1Hospital Comarcal de Monforte, Monforte de Lemos, Spain
  • 2Fundacion Instituto de Investigacion Sanitaria de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  • 3Hospital Universitario Marques de Valdecilla, Santander, Spain
  • 4Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
  • 5Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red de Enfermedades Raras, Valencia, Spain
  • 6Hospital Universitario Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
  • 7Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER), Madrid, Spain
  • 8Fundacion Publica Galega de Medicina Xenomica, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  • 9Universidade de Santiago de Compostela Centro Singular de Investigacion en Medicina Molecular e Enfermidades Cronicas, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

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Background: Elevated levels of Von Willebrand Factor (VWF) have been associated to an increased need of mechanical ventilation and higher mortality risk in COVID-19 patients, but the hypothesis of a shared genetic background has not been explored. Methods: Common and low-frequency genetic variants belonging to the VWF, FVIII and ADAMTS13 genes were tested for association with clinical variables related to severe COVID-19 disease in 9,371 European and 3,495 Latin-American patients. Gene-environment and gene-gene interactions were also explored. Results: A variant in the VWF gene was associated to the need of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) in the Latin-American population. Gene-gene interaction models pointed to an interaction between ADAMTS13 and VWF genes. Conclusion: Although we did not find significant associations among Europeans, we identified a low-frequency variant belonging to the VWF gene associated to with the need of IMV in Latin-Americans.

Keywords: admixed population, COVID-19 severity, Invasive mechanical ventilation, von Willebrand Factor, VWFgene

Received: 22 Aug 2025; Accepted: 03 Dec 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 López Castro, Diz-de Almeida, López Reboiro, Sardiña González, Riancho, Rojas-Martinez, Lapunzina, Flores, CRUZ GUERRERO and Carracedo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: RAQUEL CRUZ GUERRERO

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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