# Clonal hematopoiesis and severity of COVID-19 disease

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · 2022 · $120,235

## Abstract

SUMMARY
COVID-19 disease has a diverse range of outcomes, and this individual-to-individual variability is poorly
understood. Clonal hematopoiesis is a prevalent, age-associated condition that arises from the accumulation of
various somatic mutations in hematopoietic cells and can lead to their clonal amplification. These mutant clones
corrupt immune cell function and contribute to mortality and increased cardiovascular disease risk through
cytokine dysregulation. The proposed research will investigate the hypothesis that clonal hematopoiesis is a
hematologic host factor that predisposes persons to develop severe COVID-19 disease. Through a collaborative
effort between Kenneth Walsh Ph.D. (UVA) and Christopher deFilippi M.D. (Inova) the proposed research will
explore the possibility that clonal hematopoiesis-mediated alterations to the immune system are associated with
clinical laboratory measures of a marked inflammatory response, biochemical evidence of cardiac injury and
poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19 infection. Patients will be consented and enrolled at the Inova
hospital system in northern Virginia that delivers service to more than 2 million people per year in the Washington,
D.C metro area with a large volume of hospitalized COVID-19 positive patients. Upon enrollment, biospecimens
will be collected and banked. Clinical data will be extracted from the electronic medical record and stored in
research form in Research Electronic Data Capture software. DNA will be sent to Dr. Walsh’s laboratory at UVA
for analysis of clonal hematopoiesis. DNA from the Inova group will be processed at UVA to assess clonal
hematopoiesis via targeted, error-corrected DNA sequencing. This analysis employs an enrichment panel to
capture driver genes of interest and the construction of libraries with DNA barcodes. Following deep next
generation DNA sequencing, a bioinformatic platform is employed to distinguish true variant calls from noise at
a particular exonic location. These data on clonal hematopoiesis will then be shared with the team at Inova to
test whether there are associations between somatic mutations, clinical outcome, and markers of inflammation
and cardiac injury.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10413986
- **Project number:** 5R21AG072095-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
- **Principal Investigator:** KENNETH WALSH
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $120,235
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-06-01 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10413986

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10413986, Clonal hematopoiesis and severity of COVID-19 disease (5R21AG072095-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10413986. Licensed CC0.

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