Association of rs2236757 and rs10735079 Polymorphisms with Susceptibility to COVID-19 Infection and Severity in Palestine.

The clinical course and severity of COVID-19 vary among patients. This study aimed to investigate the potential correlation between the gene polymorphisms of the interferon receptor () rs2236757 and oligoadenylate synthetase 3 () rs10735079 with the risk of COVID-19 infection and its severity among Palestinian patients. The study was conducted between April and May 2021 on 154 participants who were divided into three groups: the control group (RT-PCR-negative,  = 52), the community cases group (RT-PCR-positive,  = 70), and the critically ill cases (ICU group;  = 32). The genotyping of the investigated polymorphisms was performed using amplicon-based next-generation sequencing. The genotypes distribution for the rs2236757 was significantly different among the study groups ( = 0.001), while no statistically significant differences were found in the distribution of genotypes for the rs10735079 ( = 0.091). Logistic regression analysis adjusted for possible confounding factors revealed a significant association between the risk allele rs2236757A and critical COVID-19 illness (  <  0.025). Among all patients, those who carried the rs2236757GA were more likely to have a sore throat (OR, 2.52 (95% CI 1.02-6.24);  = 0.011); the presence of the risk allele rs2236757A was associated with an increased risk to dyspnea (OR, 4.70 (95% CI 1.80-12.27);   <  0.001), while the rs10735079A carriers were less likely to develop muscle aches (OR, 0.34 (95% CI 0.13-0.88);  = 0.0248) and sore throat (OR, 0.17 (95% CI 0.05-0.55);   <  0.001). In conclusion, our results revealed that the rs2236757A variant was associated with critical COVID-19 illness and dyspnea, whereas the rs10735079A variant was protective for muscle aches and sore throat.