Frontiers in Medicine (Sep 2023)

Occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 viremia is associated with genetic variants of genes related to COVID-19 pathogenesis

  • Emilia Roy-Vallejo,
  • Emilia Roy-Vallejo,
  • Sara Fernández De Córdoba-Oñate,
  • Pablo Delgado-Wicke,
  • Ana Triguero-Martínez,
  • Ana Triguero-Martínez,
  • Nuria Montes,
  • Nuria Montes,
  • Rosa Carracedo-Rodríguez,
  • Nelly Zurita-Cruz,
  • Ana Marcos-Jiménez,
  • Ana Marcos-Jiménez,
  • Amalia Lamana,
  • José María Galván-Román,
  • José María Galván-Román,
  • Gonzalo Villapalos García,
  • Gonzalo Villapalos García,
  • Pablo Zubiaur,
  • Pablo Zubiaur,
  • Marianela Ciudad,
  • Laura Rabes,
  • Marta Sanz,
  • Carlos Rodríguez,
  • Almudena Villa,
  • Jesús Álvarez Rodríguez,
  • Celeste Marcos,
  • Julia Hernando,
  • Paula Díaz-Fernández,
  • Paula Díaz-Fernández,
  • Francisco Abad,
  • Francisco Abad,
  • Francisco Abad,
  • Ignacio de los Santos,
  • Ignacio de los Santos,
  • Ignacio de los Santos,
  • Diego A. Rodríguez Serrano,
  • Rosario García-Vicuña,
  • Rosario García-Vicuña,
  • Carmen Suárez Fernández,
  • Carmen Suárez Fernández,
  • Carmen Suárez Fernández,
  • Rosa P. Gomariz,
  • Cecilia Muñoz-Calleja,
  • Cecilia Muñoz-Calleja,
  • Cecilia Muñoz-Calleja,
  • Elena Fernández-Ruiz,
  • Elena Fernández-Ruiz,
  • Elena Fernández-Ruiz,
  • Isidoro González-Álvaro,
  • Isidoro González-Álvaro,
  • Laura Cardeñoso,
  • Laura Cardeñoso,
  • the PREDINMUN-COVID Group

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2023.1215246
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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IntroductionSARS-CoV-2 viral load has been related to COVID-19 severity. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 viremia and SNPs in genes previously studied by our group as predictors of COVID-19 severity.Materials and methodsRetrospective observational study including 340 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in the University Hospital La Princesa between March 2020 and December 2021, with at least one viremia determination. Positive viremia was considered when viral load was above the quantifiable threshold (20 copies/ml). A total of 38 SNPs were genotyped. To study their association with viremia a multivariate logistic regression was performed.ResultsThe mean age of the studied population was 64.5 years (SD 16.6), 60.9% patients were male and 79.4% white non-Hispanic. Only 126 patients (37.1%) had at least one positive viremia. After adjustment by confounders, the presence of the minor alleles of rs2071746 (HMOX1; T/T genotype OR 9.9 p < 0.0001), rs78958998 (probably associated with SERPING1 expression; A/T genotype OR 2.3, p = 0.04 and T/T genotype OR 12.9, p < 0.0001), and rs713400 (eQTL for TMPRSS2; C/T + T/T genotype OR 1.86, p = 0.10) were associated with higher risk of viremia, whereas the minor alleles of rs11052877 (CD69; A/G genotype OR 0.5, p = 0.04 and G/G genotype OR 0.3, p = 0.01), rs2660 (OAS1; A/G genotype OR 0.6, p = 0.08), rs896 (VIPR1; T/T genotype OR 0.4, p = 0.02) and rs33980500 (TRAF3IP2; C/T + T/T genotype OR 0.3, p = 0.01) were associated with lower risk of viremia.ConclusionGenetic variants in HMOX1 (rs2071746), SERPING1 (rs78958998), TMPRSS2 (rs713400), CD69 (rs11052877), TRAF3IP2 (rs33980500), OAS1 (rs2660) and VIPR1 (rs896) could explain heterogeneity in SARS-CoV-2 viremia in our population.

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