Association between cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2B antisense RNA 1 and zinc finger homeobox 3 gene polymorphisms and COVID-19 severity

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 1 - 568
• Main Authors: Badr, Eman A, Elhelbawy, Nesreen G, Nagy, Alaa Osama, Sultan, Amany A, Elnaidany, Shereen S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central Ltd 31.08.2023; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Analysis; Antisense RNA; Atherosclerosis; Atrial fibrillation; Cardiovascular disease; CDKN2B-AS1; Cell cycle; Cerebral infarction; Chromosome 9; Chromosomes; Complications; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Cyclin-dependent kinase; Cyclin-dependent kinases; Cyclins; DNA binding proteins; DNA methylation; Enzyme inhibitors; Gene polymorphism; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genetic diversity; Genetic engineering; Genetic research; Genetic variance; Genotyping; Heart attack; Homeobox; Intensive care; Kidney diseases; Kinases; Myocardial infarction; Neutrophils; Nucleotides; Polymorphism; Respiratory diseases; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Single nucleotide polymorphisms; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Software; Ventilators; Viral diseases; ZFHX3; Zinc; Zinc finger proteins; Egypt
• ISSN: 1471-2334; 1471-2334
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-023-08564-7

There is no doubt about the cardiovascular complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Several genetic studies have demonstrated an association between genetic variants in a region on chromosome 9p21 and in a region on chromosome 16q22 with myocardial infarction (MI) and atrial fibrillation (AF) accompanied by cerebral infarction (CI), respectively. MI and CI susceptibility in patients with CDKN2B-AS1 and ZFHX3 polymorphisms, respectively, may have an effect on COVID-19 severity. We aimed to investigate whether there is an association between the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2B antisense RNA 1 (CDKN2B-AS1) rs1333049 and zinc finger homeobox 3 (ZFHX3) rs2106261 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the degree of COVID-19 severity. This current work was carried out on 360 subjects. They were classified into three groups: 90 severe COVID-19 cases, 90 moderate COVID-19 cases and 180 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. All subjects underwent genotyping of CDKN2B-AS1 (rs1333049) and ZFHX3 (rs2106261) by real-time PCR. The frequency of G/C in CDKN2B-AS1 (rs1333049) was higher in severe and moderate COVID-19 patients than in controls (71.1% and 53.3% vs. 37.8%). The frequency of the C/C of CDKN2B-AS1 (rs1333049) was higher in moderate COVID-19 patients than in controls (26.7% vs. 13.3%). There were no significant differences regarding genotype frequency and allelic distribution of ZFHX3 (rs2106261) between COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. CDKN2B-AS1 (rs1333049) gene polymorphism may play a role in determining the degree of COVID-19 severity. Further studies on its effect on cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) [not measured in our study] may shed light on new treatment options for COVID-19.