Association of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms with COVID19 Severity in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought countless infections and deaths worldwide. COVID-19 patients demonstrated a great diversity in clinical manifestation and disease severity, but factors for these diversions are yet to be determined. Genetic variations such as the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) might be responsible for COVID-19 severity. Methods: Genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood of 215 recovered COVID-19 patients with different disease severities (asymptomatic, mild, and severe). Their personal information such as gender, age, BMI, and comorbidities was recorded. Global Screening Array (GSA) was performed to search for SNPs linked with the COVID-19 severity. Potential SNPs were further genotyped using real-time PCR for validation, and their risk association was assessed. Results: Hypertension and obesity were the most prevalent comorbidities in severe COVID-19 patients. The GSA showed three potential SNPs (rs923147, rs409017, and rs17062791) that were significantly associated with COVID-19 severity. Further analyses on these SNPs revealed that male, older (>60 years), and overweight subjects who carried an A allele in the rs923147 were protective against severe COVID-19. In contrast, male patients who inherited a G allele had an increased risk of severe COVID-19. For the rs409017 SNP, the presence of an A allele significantly increased the risk of subjects developing severe COVID-19. Besides, obese patients who carried a T allele in the rs17062791 SNP had a significantly lower risk of developing mild symptoms. Conclusion: This study suggests SNPs' potential role that is linked with the COVID-19 severity. These data are useful in predicting the disease severity of COVID-19 patients.