The role of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene polymorphisms hypercoagulable status of coronavirus disease

Abstract

Background: Hypercoagulation is a hallmark in coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The activity of the enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) determines homocysteine levels, and polymorphisms in the enzyme’s gene can influence the enzyme activity with a consequence of hypercoagulability in patients with COVID-19. Objectives: To investigate the association of two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the MTHFR gene with hypercoagulability status in COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study, which included 90 patients diagnosed with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with variable severity. Patients were classified according to D-dimer level at admission into two groups: with and without hypercoagulability. Nucleic DNA was extracted from leukocytes and gene fragments corresponding to C677T and A1298C MTHFR gene were amplified and genotyped using allele specific polymerase chain reaction. Results: Hypercoagulation was reported in 42.22% of the patients. The mutant homozygous genotype (TT) was more frequent among hyper - than normocoagulable patients (13.6% vs. 1.92%) with a significant difference (odds ratio [OR] = 9.28, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.02–84.78, P = 0.048). Furthermore, T allele was more common among hyper- than normocoagulable patients (28.95% vs. 13.46%) with a significant difference (OR = 2.62, 95% CI = 1.24–5.5, P = 0.012). In contrast, the SNP A1298C had no significant impact. Conclusions: The TT genotype and T allele of C677T polymorphism but not A1298C in cMTHFE gene could be considered a risk factor for the hypercoagulable status in COVID-19.

Keywords

• covid-19
• hypercoagulability
• mthfer gene
• single nucleotide polymorphism