Determination of the relationship between polymorphisms in interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 genes and severe COVID-19 infection

The current COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent requirement to find genetic variants that may contribute to the susceptibility and severity of the disease. The aim of this study was to examine the association between interleukin-6 (IL-6) (rs7802307 and rs7802308) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) (rs1800896) gene polymorphisms and SARS-COV-2. In this direction, a total of 100 people, 50 individuals with COVID-19 and 50 healthy controls, participated in the study. The patient group consisted of 38 men and 12 women aged between 15 and 72, while the control group consisted of 34 men and 16 women aged between 19 and 54. The study was conducted at Al-Hussain Teaching Hospital between April and August 2022. C-Reactive Protein and D-dimer levels of both groups were determined and it was found that the patient group had significantly higher values compared to the healthy group. IL-6 and IL-10 genetic sequence was analysed in 50 samples, 25 patient samples (S1 to S25) and 25 control samples (C1 to C25). A PCR fragment of 708 bp was generated to amplify a specific region of the IL-6 gene and 781 bp to amplify a specific region of the IL-10 gene. The amplified segment was carefully designed to contain single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IL-6 gene (rs7802307 and rs7802308, T540A, T541A) and IL-10 gene (rs1800896, T327C). For rs7802307, the homozygous AA variant was found in most cases and controls. For rs7802308, the homozygous TT variant was found in most cases and controls. The findings of this study failed to identify a significant outcome between the rs7802307 (p-value for rs7802307 T>A=0.33) and rs7802308 SNP (p-value for rs7802308 T>A=0.45) and the development of SARS-COV-2. The three forms of the IL-10 gene include the CC, TC and CC genotype. Based on the findings, it appears that the rs1800896 T>C IL-10 gene variant may be associated with SARS-COV-2 risk.