Abstract
Background: Clinical studies show that ACE2 gene variations affect SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and severity. While unconvincing, recent study has linked the ACE2 rs2285666 polymorphism to COVID-19. This multicentric clinical study in Lorestan and Golestan provinces examined polymorphism and COVID-19 in Iranians of diverse ethnicities (Fars, Lur, Turkmen, and Balooch).
Methods: There were 372 persons evaluated, 201 positive for SARS-CoV-2 and 171 negative. PCR-RFLP using AluI enzyme identified the polymorphism. Demographic and clinical data were analyzed using IBM SPSS. Hazards were assessed using odds ratio analysis, whereas Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) and genotype variations were evaluated using SNPSTATS.
Results: PCR-RFLP showed that COVID-19 susceptibility may increase with the AA genotype. Female COVID-19 positive patients had 56%, 29%, and 15% GG, GA, and AA genotypes, compared to 61%, 35%, and 4% in the control group. G and A genotypes were 89% and 11% in the healthy group and 25% and 75% in the patient group among male individuals. Polymorphism frequencies were not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in both positive and negative groups (p < 0.05). Logistic regression research showed that the AA genotype differed in co-dominant and recessive inheritance models with odds ratios of OR=4.06 (1.10-15.00) and OR=4.21 (1.16-15.24). The ACE-2 rs2285666 AA or A genotype were strongly associated with COVID-19 risk in this research.
Methods: There were 372 persons evaluated, 201 positive for SARS-CoV-2 and 171 negative. PCR-RFLP using AluI enzyme identified the polymorphism. Demographic and clinical data were analyzed using IBM SPSS. Hazards were assessed using odds ratio analysis, whereas Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) and genotype variations were evaluated using SNPSTATS.
Results: PCR-RFLP showed that COVID-19 susceptibility may increase with the AA genotype. Female COVID-19 positive patients had 56%, 29%, and 15% GG, GA, and AA genotypes, compared to 61%, 35%, and 4% in the control group. G and A genotypes were 89% and 11% in the healthy group and 25% and 75% in the patient group among male individuals. Polymorphism frequencies were not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in both positive and negative groups (p < 0.05). Logistic regression research showed that the AA genotype differed in co-dominant and recessive inheritance models with odds ratios of OR=4.06 (1.10-15.00) and OR=4.21 (1.16-15.24). The ACE-2 rs2285666 AA or A genotype were strongly associated with COVID-19 risk in this research.
Conclusions: A significant difference in the AA and A genotype distribution was found in COVID-19 patients. More studies on larger and more diverse populations are needed to be carried out to investigate the impact of this polymorphism on the susceptibility and severity of COVID-19.
Keywords
ACE-2 COVID-19 Polymorphism Ethnicity Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs)
Copyright
© 2024, Author(s). This open-access article is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which allows for unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.