Correlations of IL-6, IL-6R, IL-10 and IL-17 gene polymorphisms with the prevalence of COVID-2019 infection and its mortality rate 

Abstract The pathogenesis of COVID-19 implicates a potent inflammatory response resulting in cytokine storm. We aimed to evaluate association between polymorphisms in IL-6 gene at rs1800796/rs1800795, IL-6R at rs2228145, IL-10 at rs1800896 and rs1800871, IL-17 at rs2275913 and rs76378, and the prevalence (per million) and mortality rates (per million) of COVID-19 among populations of China, Japan, India, Iran, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, Finland, Brazil, Czechia, Russia, Poland. AG and GG genotypes of rs2275913 in IL-17A was found to be correlated with prevalence and mortality rates, especially in Spain and Brazil populations (p<0.05) while TT genotype of rs763780 in IL-17F was not dependent on the high frequencies in all populations. However, the polymorphisms in IL-6, IL-6R and IL-10 appear not to be correlated with prevalence and mortality rates. The variations in the prevalence of COVID-19 and its mortality rates among countries may be explained by cytokine storm differed by the polymorphisms of rs2275913 locus in IL-17A gene. However, the prevalence of infection differs from severity of COVID-19, based on many factors such as public awareness, behaviors and antiviral policy of countries. Yet, the severity of disease induced by viral infection might be associated with genetic host factors including immune profiling.