Analysis of Epidemiological Factors and SNP rs3804100 of TLR2 for COVID-19 in a Cohort of Professionals Who Worked in the First Pandemic Wave in Belém-PA, Brazil

Abstract

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by coronavirus 2 of the severe acute syndrome (SARS-CoV-2). Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes, such as TLR2, responsible for an effective human immune response, can change the course of infection. The objective of this article was to verify associations between epidemiological factors and TLR2 SNP rs3804100 (Thymine [T] > Cytosine [C]) in professionals from Health Institutions (HI) who worked during the first pandemic wave and COVID-19. A case-control study was conducted with Belém-PA HI workers (Northern Brazil), divided into symptomatology groups (Asymptomatic-AS; n = 91; and Symptomatic-SI; n = 123); and severity groups classified by Chest Computerized Tomography data (symptomatic with pulmonary involvement—SCP; n = 35; symptomatic without pulmonary involvement—SSP; n = 8). Genotyping was performed by Sanger sequencing, and Statistical Analysis was conducted through the SPSS program. Bioinformatics servers predicted the biological functions of the TLR2 SNP. There were associations between the presence of comorbidities and poor prognosis of COVID-19 (especially between symptomatology and severity of COVID-19 and overweight and obesity) and between the sickness in family members and kinship (related to blood relatives). The homozygous recessive (C/C) genotype was not found, and the frequency of the mutant allele (C) was less than 10% in the cohort. No significant associations were found for this SNP in this cohort. The presence of SNP was indicated to be benign and causes a decrease in the stability of the TLR2 protein. These data can help the scientific community and medicine find new forms of COVID-19 containment.

Analysis of associations between the TLR3 SNPs rs3775291 and rs3775290 and COVID-19 in a cohort of professionals of Belém-PA, Brazil

“…There was agreement between the SNPs rs3775291 and rs3775290 and HWE ( p = 0.91 and p = 0.41, respectively). The epidemiological characteristics of this cohort of professionals from Belém (N = 214) have already been analyzed in association with the symptoms and severity for COVID-19 in our previous study ( Silva et al., 2023c ).…”

“…The use of COVID-19 CCT to assess severity is recommended by the WHO and the Brazilian Ministry of Health ( Choi et al., 2020 ; UNA-SUS, 2020 ). This methodology to divide the subjects of the cohort into groups according to COVID-19 parameters analyzed and present the variables used in the study has also been previously described in our other previously published study with another SNP analysis in the same cohort ( Silva et al., 2023c ).…”

Toll-like Receptor 2 Mediated Immune Regulation in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Rhesus Macaques

“…The innate immune response is the first line of defense against pathogens. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a group of pattern recognition receptors that identify pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), including PAMPs from bacteria [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], viruses [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], fungi [ 19 ], and parasites [ 20 ]. They are critical in the innate immune response [ 21 , 22 ].…”