Prognostic impact of toll-like receptors gene polymorphism on outcome of COVID-19 pneumonia: A case-control study

Abstract

Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) and TLR7 genes are involved in the host immune response against viral infections including SARS-COV-2. This study aimed to investigate the association between the TLR3(rs3775290) and TLR7(rs179008) polymorphisms with the prognosis and susceptibility to COVID-19 pneumonia accompanying SARS-COV-2 infection. This case-control study included 236 individuals: 136 COVID-19 pneumonia patients and 100 age and sex-matched controls. Two polymorphisms (TLR3 rs3775290 and TLR7 rs179008) were genotyped by allelic discrimination through TaqMan real-time PCR. This study also investigated predictors of mortality in COVID-19 pneumonia through logistic regression. The mutant ‘T/T' genotypes and the ‘T' alleles of TLR3(rs3775290) and TLR7(rs179008) polymorphisms were significantly associated with increased risk of COVID-19 pneumonia. This study did not report association between the mutant ‘T/T' genotypes of TLR3(rs3775290) and TLR7(rs179008) and the disease outcome. In multivariate analysis, the independent predictors of mortality in COVID-19 pneumonia were male sex, SPO2 ≤ 82%, INR > 1, LDH ≥ 1000 U/l, and lymphocyte count<900/mm3 (P < 0.05).