Implication of single nucleotide polymorphisms in Interleukin-10 gene (rs1800896 and rs1800872) with severity of COVID-19

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing pandemic which has emerged as a new challenge for the medical sciences. Severity of COVID-19 is mostly determined with overexpressed proinflammatory cytokines eventually leading to endothelial dysfunction causing vital organ injury, especially in the lungs. It has been postulated that various genetic mutations might be associated with an increased risk of disease severity in COVID-19. This study was thus carried out to determine the association of rs1800896 and rs1800872 genetic polymorphism in IL-10 gene in determining COVID-19 severity. Methods The study included 160 RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 patients with mild ( n = 85) and severe ( n = 75) conditions. All subjects were genotyped for Interleukin-10 ( rs1800896 and rs1800872) gene polymorphisms using PCR–RFLP technique followed by statistical analysis. Results This study found a significant gender and age-based discrepancy in COVID-19 severity with 1.85-and 3.81-fold increased risk of COVID-19 in males of mild and severe groups as compared to females ( p = 0.046 and p