Study of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-10, TGF-β and IL-6 Gene Polymorphisms in a Cohort of Professionals Who Worked in the First Pandemic Wave in the Brazilian Amazon.

Abstract

Genetic polymorphisms in genes that enable the production of an effective host immune response, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPS) in the IL-6, INF-alpha, IFN-gamma, IL-10, TGF-beta genes can cause unfavorable clinical conditions or susceptibility to pathologies. The objective of this work is to evaluate the epidemiological and genetic profile of professionals from health institutions during the first pandemic wave. A case-control study was performed with convenience sampling from health institutions (HI) workers from Belém-PA, Northern Brazil (N = 213), divided into symptomatology groups (Asymptomatic-AS, n = 91; and Symptomatic-SI, n = 122); and severity groups classified by chest computerized tomography-CCT data (symptomatic with pulmonary involvement-SCP, n = 37; symptomatic without pulmonary involvement-SSP, n = 8). Genotyping was performed by sanger sequencing for SNP TNF-α -308 G/A (rs1800629), IFN-γ +874 T/A (rs2430561), TGF-β codon 10 (rs1982073), codon 25 (rs1800471), IL-6 - 174 G/C (rs180079), IL-10 - 1082 A/T (rs1800896), -819 C/T (rs1800871), and -592 A/C (rs1800872), and statistical analysis through the Epilfo program. Significant association was observed between the presence of comorbidities and poor prognosis of COVID-19 (especially between COVID-19 and overweight and obesity). Only the TNF-α 308 G/A snp was significantly associated with the symptoms and severity of COVID-19. These findings about this TNF-α SNP passed in the multiple testing correction at a false discovery rate (FDR)< 0.05. These data can help medicine and the scientific community understand the influence of genetics and epidemiological parameters in combating COVID-19.