Association of the rs4646994 Polymorphism in the ACE1 Gene with the Severity of COVID-19 in Children from Ukraine

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first identified in late 2019 in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, remains a pressing public health challenge of the twenty-first century with significant morbidity and mortality despite the implementation of a vaccine campaign. Of particular interest are results of research on the role of genetic factors in the course of COVID-19. Such data indicate the probable existence of a hereditary predisposition of individuals to a severe and complicated course of the coronavirus disease. The results of a number of studies indicate the involvement of polymorphic variants I/D of the ACE1 gene in the particular course of the corona virus disease. The purposes of this work were to study the peculiarities of the distribution of genotypes according to the rs4646994 polymorphism of the ACE1 gene and to assess the association of this polymorphism with the severity of the course of the coronavirus disease and the risk of developing pathological changes in the lungs during the coronavirus disease in a cohort of children who suffered from COVID-19. For this purpose, in the examined group of 244 children with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, genotyping was carried out according to the rs4646994 polymorphism of the ACE1 gene using melting curve analysis of PCR products, the detection of which occurs due to the fluorescence of the intercalating dye EvaGreen. According to the results of the study, an association was established between homo- and heterozygous carriers of the I allele with a severe course of the disease and, in particular, with lung injury. The obtained data can serve as a basis for the use of the I/D polymorphism of the ACE1 gene as a genetic marker for predicting the course of the disease for COVID-19 and become important information for the development of personalized therapy in children.