a multicentric study of ace2 rs2285666 polymorphism: the association with covid-19 in the iranian population

Background: clinical studies have shown that variations in the ace2 gene can influence susceptibility to and the severity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (sars-cov-2) infections. although the evidence is not conclusive, recent studies have suggested a potential link between the ace2 rs2285666 polymorphism and covid-19.objectives: this multicentric clinical study, conducted in lorestan and golestan provinces, aimed to examine the association between the ace2 rs2285666 polymorphism and covid-19 in iranians of various ethnicities, including fars, lur, turkmen, and balooch.methods: a total of 372 participants were evaluated, with 201 testing positive for sars-cov-2 and 171 negative. the pcr-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (pcr-rflp) technique, using the alui enzyme, was employed to identify the polymorphism. demographic and clinical data were analyzed using ibm spss. hazards were assessed through odds ratio analysis, while hardy-weinberg equilibrium (hwe) and genotype variations were evaluated using snpstats.results: pcr-rflp analysis indicated that the aa genotype may increase susceptibility to covid-19. among female covid-19-positive patients, 56%, 29%, and 15% exhibited gg, ga, and aa genotypes, respectively, compared to 61%, 35%, and 4% in the control group. in male individuals, the frequencies of g and a genotypes were 89% and 11% in the healthy group, while they were 25% and 75%, respectively, in the patient group. polymorphism frequencies were not in hwe in both the positive and negative groups (p < 0.05). logistic regression analysis showed that the aa genotype differed in co-dominant and recessive inheritance models, with odds ratios (or) of or = 4.06 (1.10 - 15.00) and or = 4.21 (1.16 - 15.24). the ace2 rs2285666 aa or a genotype was strongly associated with an increased risk of covid-19 in this study.conclusions: a significant difference in the distribution of the aa and a genotypes was observed in covid-19 patients. further studies involving larger and more diverse populations are necessary to explore the impact of this polymorphism on the susceptibility to and severity of covid-19.