IFNA1 and COVID-19: However, it should be noted that a transcriptome‐wide association study (TWAS) performed on the same COVID‐19 GWAS data we utilise here, revealed a direct effect of risk SNPs on the downregulated expression of TNF‐ and IFN‐related genes, and thus, there is at least some support for a direct causal role for these two cytokines.1