The materials of the XVIII Ukrainian Conference of Young Scientists of IMBG of NAS of Ukraine

Аіm.The aim of this study was to investigate the association of genotypes and allelic variants of the I/D polymorphism of the ACE1 rs4946994 gene with the course of coronavirus disease COVID-19 in children from Ukraine.Methods.The material comprised blood samples from children aged 1 to 17 years (N = 234) with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 of varying severi ty: mild, including asymptomatic, moderate, and severe, as determined by pediatricians du ring hospitalization.Additionally, there was a group of children (60) with a concomitant disease -juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in the presence of COVID-19.Methods included obtaining peripheral blood samples, DNA extraction, and purification using standard methods with a nucleic acid extraction kit, spectrophotometric analysis, and PCR reaction with real-time detection of melting products using Eva Green intercalating dye.Analysis of the melting curves of PCR products was conducted using the BIO-RAD iQ5 Optical System Software package, and statistical processing of results was performed using Fisher's criterion with Open Epi software.Results.Comparative analysis revealed no significant difference in the genotypes and alleles between children with COVID-19 and the control group.No differences in the genotypes and alleles were found in children with mild, moderate, and severe COVID-19.Allele I was more common in the patients with lung damage.Statistically significant diffe rences were noted when comparing the proportion of carriers of allele I in the analyzed subgroups.The distribution of ACE I/D alleles in children with JIA and without concomitant diseases in COVID-19 showed a statistically significant difference.Conclusions.A statistically significant increase in the frequency of genotype I/I was found in the group of children with COVID-19 and pulmonary complications compared to the patients with COVID-19 without pulmonary complications.Additionally, a statistically significant increase in the frequency of genotype I/I was found in the group of children with a history of juvenile idiopathic arthritis and mild COVID-19.Thus, genotype I/I can be considered a risk factor for JIA.K e y w o r d s: children; SARS-CoV-2 virus; COVID-19; ACE1 gene; genetic polymorphism; disease severity.