Investigation of MBL2 and NOS3 functional gene variants in suspected COVID-19 PCR (–) patients

ABSTRACT

For COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease-2019) cases, detecting host-based factors that predispose to infection is a very important research area. In this study, the aim is to investigate the MBL2 and NOS3 gene polymorphisms in COVID-19 patients with lung involvement, whose first nasopharyngeal PCR results were negative. Seventy-nine patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between April-June 2020 who were admitted to a university hospital, and 100 healthy controls were included. In the first statistical analysis performed between PCR-positive, CT-negative and PCR-negative, CT-positive patients; the AB of MBL2 genotype was significantly higher in the first group (p = 0.049). The B allele was also significantly higher in the same subgroup (p = 0.001). The absence of the AB genotype was found to increase the risk of CT positivity by 6.9 times. The AB genotype of MBL2 was higher in healthy controls (p = 0.006). The absence of the AB genotype was found to increase the risk of CT positivity; also, it can be used for early detection and isolation of patients with typical lung involvement who had enough viral loads, but whose initial PCR results were negative.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• mannose-binding lectin 2 (MBL2)
• endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS)
• PCR
• CT

Abbreviations

COVID-19: Coronavirus Disease-2019

Sars-CoV2: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2

PCR: Polymerase Chain Reaction

CT: Computed Tomography

MBL2: Mannose Binding Lectin 2

NOS: Nitric Oxide Synthase

NO: Nitric Oxide

RFLP: Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism

OR: Odds Ratio

CI: Confidence Interval

MxA: Myxovirus resistance protein A

SLE: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

IBD: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

UC: Ulcerative Colitis

DNA: Deoxyribonucleic Acid

RNA: Ribonucleic Acid

Acknowledgments

We respectfully remember all the colleagues we lost in the COVID-19 fight.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Declarations

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

Ethical committee approval was received (Istanbul University, Faculty of Medicine, Approval number: 21/05/2020-84,539) and the patients and control subjects gave informed consent before the beginning of the study. The experimental procedures were based on the Declaration of Helsinki and relevant institutional regulations.

Patient Consent for Publication

An informed consent obtained as written forms from all of our patients to publish.

Availability of Data and Materials

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Authors’ contributions

All authors contributed to the editing of the manuscript. S.P., T.T., Y.O, A.M., M.P., U.I.A., G.Y.S. and N.S. collected the patients’ data. I.S., S.P., M.K., S.M. wrote the main manuscript text and I.S. prepared tables. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.