ИСТИНА

Background and aims: The novel coronavirus, named as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2, 2019-nCoV), caused an atypical respiratory disease called Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). As of 28 January 2024, about 774 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally were reported to WHO, including more than 7 million deaths. Oxidative stress — imbalance between the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and endogenous mechanisms of detoxification, such as antioxidant enzymes. Several risk factors of COVID-19 severe outcome are associated with the development of oxidative stress. The aim of the current study was to investigate the association and SNP-SNP interaction of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) rs713041 (718 C>T), and glutathione S-transferase pi-1 (GSTP1) rs1695 (A>G) with the severity of COVID-19. Materials and methods: Study subjects were divided into two groups based on the severity of their symptoms: (100 mild and 69 severe cases). Allele-specific real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used for genotyping, and multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) analysis was performed to investigate the SNP- SNP interaction models. Results: A significant association of GPX4 rs713041 with the severity of COVID-19 was noted (p=0.035), while GSTP‐1 rs1695 showed no significant association. Most of GPX4 718TT carriers had a severe course of COVID-19 (OR=3.50; 95% CI [1.18–10.35]). The resulted two locus SNP-SNP interaction model was statistically significant (p=0.04, OR = 2.006; 95% CI [1.005–4.002]). Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the association of GSTP1 rs1695 and GPX4 rs713041 with the severity of COVID-19 symptoms. The obtained results may serve as a novel potential factor of COVID-19 prognosis.