The rs568408 variant in the IL-12A gene is associated with risk for COVID-19 in Iraqi patients

Falah Hasan Obayes Al-Khikani; Zaytoon Abdulridha Alkhafaji

doi:10.4103/tcmj.tcmj_223_22

The rs568408 variant in the IL-12A gene is associated with risk for COVID-19 in Iraqi patients

Tzu Chi Med J. 2022 Dec 7;35(2):152-157. doi: 10.4103/tcmj.tcmj_223_22. eCollection 2023 Apr-Jun.

Authors

Falah Hasan Obayes Al-Khikani^{1

2}, Zaytoon Abdulridha Alkhafaji¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, University of Babylon, Hilla, Iraq.
² Department of Microbiology, Al-Shomali General Hospital, Babylon Directorate Health, Babylon, Iraq.

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of the current study was to check the link between potential polymorphism in IL12A rs568408 and the possible risk of COVID-19 in the Iraqi population.

Materials and methods: Allele specific-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was carried out for genotyping and detection of IL12A rs568408 gene polymorphism in a case-control study of 125 severe COVID-19 cases and 60 controls. Patients were admitted to either Marjan medical city or Al-Sadeq hospital's COVID-19 wards between January and June 2022 in Iraq. The diagnosis of COVID-19 in each patient was confirmed by severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2-positive reverse transcription-PCR.

Results: The distribution of both genotyping and allele frequencies of IL-12A rs568408 revealed significant differences between patients and control groups (P = 0.006 and P = 0.001, respectively). The IL12A rs568408 AA and AG variant genotypes were associated with a significantly increased risk of COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] = 5.19, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.13-23.82; P = 0.034) and (OR = 2.39, 95% CI = 1.16-4.94, P = 0.018), respectively, compared with the wild-type GG homozygote.

Conclusion: These findings indicate that IL12A rs568408 GA/AA variant may contribute to the risk of COVID-19. This study is the first report about the association of IL12A rs568408 with COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; IL12A; Polymorphism; rs568408.