Introduction: Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the central receptor of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in host cells. Genetic polymorphisms in the ACE2 gene may promote cardiovascular disease and systemic inflammatory injury in a patient affected by COVID-19. Thus, the genetic background may account for the substantial inter-individual diversity in illness susceptibility or severity. Our study was conducted to find a significant relationship between ACE2 rs4646142 and rs2285666 polymorphisms and susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Methods: In this study, we randomly selected 230 samples, including 76 patients with severe clinical symptoms and 154 patients with mild clinical symptoms (the positive case of COVID-19 was confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction [RTPCR] assay). Then, we performed DNA extraction and investigated the polymorphisms of rs2285666 and rs4646142 by RFLP-PCR method with TaqI and Alu1 restriction enzymes.
Results: The study population included 107 men and 123 women, and the mean (±SD) age of the participants was 42.66±10.2. First, the levels of IgM and IgG were examined, and a significant association was observed in the level of IgM between the two groups of COVID-19 patients with mild and severe symptoms, as opposed to IgG. Meanwhile, no significant difference was observed between ACE2 rs4646142 and rs2285666 polymorphisms and the severity of COVID-19.
Conclusion: To better understand the genetic variations in people’s susceptibility to COVID-19, this study was designed to evaluate the association between various ACE2 polymorphisms and the infection risk of SARS-CoV-2. However, no statistical difference was discovered.