MIF is a common genetic determinant of COVID-19 symptomatic infection and severity

Genetic predisposition to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may contribute to its morbidity and mortality. Because cytokines play an important role in multiple phases of infection, we examined whether commonly occurring, functional polymorphisms in macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) are associated with COVID-19 infection or disease severity.This work was supported by National Institute of Health (NIH) [1R01-AR078334 (RB), 5R01-AI51306 (RB), R01-HL155948 (MS, RB), 1R01AG056728 (IK), T32AR07107 (JPY) and KL2 TR001862 (JJS)]; the European Commission (DB) – NextGenerationEU (Regulation EU 2020/2094) through CSIC's Global Health Platform (PTI Salud Global), and Junta de Castilla y León (Programa Estratégico Instituto de Biología y Genética Molecular (IBGM), Junta de Castilla y León (CCVC8485); and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [#81901669 (WF)].Peer reviewe