Association of IFNAR2 rs2236757 and OAS3 rs10735079 Polymorphisms with Susceptibility to COVID-19 Infection and Severity in Palestine

• Published in: Interdisciplinary perspectives on infectious diseases Vol. 2023; pp. 9551163 - 11
• Main Authors: Abdelhafez, Mohammad, Nasereddin, Abedelmajeed, Shamma, Omar Abu, Abed, Rajaa, Sinnokrot, Raghida, Marof, Omar, Heif, Tariq, Erekat, Zaid, Al-Jawabreh, Amer, Ereqat, Suheir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Egypt Hindawi 2023; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: Asymptomatic; Cardiovascular disease; Chromosomes; Coronary vessels; COVID-19; Diabetes; Disease transmission; Genes; Genetic testing; Genomics; Households; Hypertension; Infections; Kinases; Polymorphism; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Statistical analysis; Vein & artery diseases; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US
• ISSN: 1687-708X; 1687-7098
• DOI: 10.1155/2023/9551163

The clinical course and severity of COVID-19 vary among patients. This study aimed to investigate the potential correlation between the gene polymorphisms of the interferon receptor (IFNAR2) rs2236757 and oligoadenylate synthetase 3 (OAS3) rs10735079 with the risk of COVID-19 infection and its severity among Palestinian patients. The study was conducted between April and May 2021 on 154 participants who were divided into three groups: the control group (RT-PCR-negative, n = 52), the community cases group (RT-PCR-positive, n = 70), and the critically ill cases (ICU group; n = 32). The genotyping of the investigated polymorphisms was performed using amplicon-based next-generation sequencing. The genotypes distribution for the IFNAR2 rs2236757 was significantly different among the study groups (P = 0.001), while no statistically significant differences were found in the distribution of genotypes for the OAS3 rs10735079 (P = 0.091). Logistic regression analysis adjusted for possible confounding factors revealed a significant association between the risk allele rs2236757A and critical COVID-19 illness P < 0.025. Among all patients, those who carried the rs2236757GA were more likely to have a sore throat (OR, 2.52 (95% CI 1.02–6.24); P = 0.011); the presence of the risk allele rs2236757A was associated with an increased risk to dyspnea (OR, 4.70 (95% CI 1.80-12.27); P < 0.001), while the rs10735079A carriers were less likely to develop muscle aches (OR, 0.34 (95% CI 0.13–0.88); P = 0.0248) and sore throat (OR, 0.17 (95% CI 0.05–0.55); P < 0.001). In conclusion, our results revealed that the rs2236757A variant was associated with critical COVID-19 illness and dyspnea, whereas the rs10735079A variant was protective for muscle aches and sore throat.