TMPRSS2 Polymorphism and Its Correlation with SARS-CoV-2 Susceptibility

³ Guangdong Key Laboratory of Biomedical Measurements and Ultrasound Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Medical School, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, Guangdong Province, China,

JCNR 2024 , 8(5), 329–335; https://doi.org/10.26689/jcnr.v8i5.6713

© 2024 by the Authors. Licensee Whioce Publishing, Singapore. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

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Abstract

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus affected more people than SARS-CoV-1 and related coronaviruses. Human genetic factors, besides respiratory droplets and direct exposure to the virus, are found highly responsible for transmitting SARS-CoV-2 infection. Aim: The objective of this study was to determine the plasma levels of the TMPRSS2 gene and its role in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility. Methodology: A total of 100 patients, i.e.50 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients as the case group and 50 SARS-CoV-2 negative samples as the control group, were selected randomly and included in this case-control study to determine the association between TMPRSS2 gene and susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The TMPRSS2 levels of case and control samples were measured through an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Following the genomic DNA extraction, a set of reverse and forward primers of human TMPRSS2 gene primers were used for the amplification of the TMPRSS2 gene. Results: In the control group, the ratio of men to women was more or less the same while in the case group 62% of the population were women. The TMPRSS2 level was found to be 4.70 ± 7.7 ng/ml in case samples while it was 4.73 ± 5.7 ng/ml in control samples. Conclusion: The levels of TMPRSS2 in plasma samples of both controls and cases were found to be the same indicating that the entry of SARS-CoV-2 is not dependent on the plasma levels of this protein.

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