Allele С (rs5186) of At1r is Associated with the Severity of COVID-19 in the Ukrainian Population

Introduction: The severity of SARS-CoV-2 induced coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) depends on the presence of risk factors and the hosts' gene variability. There are preliminary results that gene polymorphisms of the renin-angiotensin system can influence the susceptibility to and mortality from COVID-19. Angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) might be a gene candidate that exerts such influence. The aim of this study was to elaborate on the association between A1166C at1r polymorphic variants and the susceptibility to and severity of COVID-19 in the Ukrainian population.

Methods: The study population consisted of the Ukrainian population (Poltava region) with COVID-19, divided into three clinical groups in accordance with oxygen requirement: patients without oxygen therapy (n = 110), with non-invasive (n = 136) and invasive (n = 36) oxygen therapy. The A1166C polymorphism of the at1r was determined by polymerase chain reaction with subsequent restrictase analysis. In an attempt to better explain the role of the A1166C at1r polymorphism we compared its association with COVID-19, essential hypertension (n = 79), renoparenchimal hypertension (n = 30) and dyscirculatory encephalopathy (n = 112). The data for this comparison were obtained by meta-analysis.

Results: We observed significant differences in the frequency of AA, AC and CC genotypes in the groups of COVID-19 patients with non-invasive and invasive oxygen therapy in comparison with control subjects as well as in the frequency of combined AC + CC genotype between the groups of COVID-19 patients with any types of oxygen therapy and patients without oxygen therapy. The frequency of the 1166C allele was higher in COVID-19 patients with invasive oxygen therapy (OR = 2.06; CI (1.20-3.53); p = 0.013). We obtained important results indicating that there were no differences between the frequency of at1r polymorphisms in patients with cardiovascular disease and severe COVID-19 with invasive oxygen therapy as well as those who died due to COVID-19.

Conclusion: Our study indicated the presence of an association between the A1166C at1r polymorphisms and the severity of COVID-19 in the Ukrainian population. It seems that in carriers of 1166C at1r, the severity of COVID-19 and oxygen dependency is higher as compared to the A allele carriers, possibly, due to cardiovascular disorders.