Association of Vitamin D, Zinc and Selenium Related Genetic Variants With COVID-19 Disease Severity

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be an unrelenting health threat for more than a year now. The emerging amount of data indicates that vitamin D, zinc and selenium could be important for clinical presentation of COVID-19. Here, we investigated association of genetic variants related to the altered level and bioavailability of vitamin D, zinc and selenium with clinical severity of COVID-19. <b>Methods:</b> We analyzed variants in genes significant for the status of vitamin D (<i>DHCR7</i>/<i>NADSYN1</i> rs12785878, GC rs2282679, <i>CYP2R1</i> rs10741657, and <i>VDR</i> rs2228570), zinc (<i>PPCDC</i> rs2120019) and selenium (<i>DMGDH</i> rs17823744) in 120 Serbian adult and pediatric COVID-19 patients using allelic discrimination. Furthermore, we carried out comparative population genetic analysis among European and other worldwide populations to investigate variation in allelic frequencies of selected variants. <b>Results:</b> Study showed that <i>DHCR7/NADSYN</i> rs12785878 and <i>CYP2R1</i> rs10741657 variants were associated with severe COVID-19 in adults (<i>p</i> = 0.03, <i>p</i> = 0.017, respectively); carriers of <i>DHCR7/NADSYN</i> TG+GG and <i>CYP2R1</i> GG genotypes had 0.21 and 5.9 the odds for developing severe disease, OR 0.21 (0.05-0.9) and OR 5.9 (1.4-25.2), respectively. There were no associations between selected genetic variants and disease severity in pediatric patients. Comparative population genetic analysis revealed that Serbian population had the lowest frequency of <i>CYP2R1</i> rs10741657 G allele compared to other non-Finish Europeans (0.58 compared to 0.69 and 0.66 in Spanish and Italian population, respectively), suggesting that other populations should also investigate the relationship of <i>CYP2R1</i> variant and the COVID-19 disease course. <b>Conclusion:</b> The results of the study indicated that vitamin D related genetic variants were implicated in severe COVID-19 in adults. This could direct prevention strategies based on population specific nutrigenetic profiles.