Investigation of the relationship between inherited thrombophilia and novel coronavirus pneumonia

Role of Genetic Thrombophilia Markers in Thrombosis Events in Elderly Patients with COVID-19

Thrombosis is an extremely dangerous complication in elderly patients with COVID-19. Since the first months of the pandemic, anticoagulants have been mandatory in treatment protocols for patients with COVID-19, unless there are serious contraindications. We set out to discover if genetic thrombophilia factors continue to play a triggering role in the occurrence of thrombosis in patients with COVID-19 with prophylactic or therapeutic anticoagulants. We considered the following genetic markers as risk factors for thrombophilia: G1691A in the FV gene, C677T and A1298C in the MTHFR gene, G20210A and C494T in the FII gene, and (−675) 4G/5G in the PAI-I gene. In a cohort of 176 patients, we did not obtain a reliable result indicating a higher risk of thrombotic complications when taking therapeutic doses of anticoagulants in carriers of genetic markers for thrombophilia except the C494T mutation in the FII gene. However, there was still a pronounced tendency to a higher incidence of thrombosis in patients with markers of hereditary thrombophilia, such as FV G1691A and FII G20210A mutations. The presence of the C494T (Thr165Met) allele in the FII gene in this group of patients showed a statistically significant effect of the mutation on the risk of thrombotic complications despite anticoagulant therapy.

Contribution of genotypes in Prothrombin and Factor V Leiden to COVID-19 and disease severity in patients at high risk for hereditary thrombophilia

Thrombotic and microangiopathic effects have been reported in COVID-19 patients. This study examined the contribution of the hereditary thrombophilia factors Prothrombin (FII) and Factor V Leiden (FVL) genotypes to the severity of COVID-19 disease and the development of thrombosis. This study investigated FII and FVL alleles in a cohort of 9508 patients (2606 male and 6902 female) with thrombophilia. It was observed that 930 of these patients had been infected by SARS-CoV-2 causing COVID-19. The demographic characteristics of the patients and their COVID-19 medical history were recorded. Detailed clinical manifestations were analyzed in a group of cases (n = 4092). This subgroup was age and gender-matched. FII and FVL frequency data of healthy populations without thrombophilia risk were obtained from Bursa Uludag University Medical Genetic Department's Exome Databank. The ratio of males (31.08%; 27.01%) and the mean age (36.85 ± 15.20; 33.89 ± 14.14) were higher among COVID-19 patients compared to non-COVID-19 patients. The prevalence of FVL and computerized tomography (CT) positivity in COVID-19 patients was statistically significant in the thrombotic subgroup (p < 0.05). FVL prevalence, CT positivity rate, history of thrombosis, and pulmonary thromboembolism complication were found to be higher in deceased COVID-19 patients (p < 0.05). Disease severity was mainly affected by FVL and not related to genotypes at the Prothrombin mutations. Overall, disease severity and development of thrombosis in COVID-19 are mainly affected by the variation within the FVL gene. Possible FVL mutation should be investigated in COVID-19 patients and appropriate treatment should be started earlier in FVL-positive patients.

Patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 have high frequency of factor 5 Leiden and prothrombin gene mutations

We investigated the frequency of factor 5 Leiden (FVL) and prothrombin gene (PTG) mutations in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Our primary aim is to reveal whether these mutations are associated with severity of disease and mortality. A total of 249 patients were included in this cross-sectional study. Severe COVID-19 cases (with oxygen saturation of less than 90 mmHg and who received ventilation support invasively or noninvasively) were included. FVL and PTG mutations were identified by real time- PCR technique. Frequency of mutations for FVL was 11.7%, whereas for PTG was 3.5%. The frequency of FVL and PTG's mutations in our patient group was found to be significantly higher than the normal population ( P  < 0.0001, 0.004, respectively). There was no difference in the frequency of mutations of FVL and PTG between the patients ventilated - invasively and noninvasively. There was also no difference in D-dimer, ferritin, fibrinogen, ex status, and entubational status between the groups of FVL and PTG mutated and wild-type. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that we have examined the frequencies of FVL and PGM's mutations in severe COVID-19 disease on such a large scale. The frequencies of both mutations in severe COVID-19 patients were higher than in the healthy population. We believe that studies prospectively designed, including asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 patients, will provide more comprehensive information on the subject.

Possible effect of genetic background in thrombophilia genes on clinical severity of patients with coronavirus disease-2019: A prospective cohort study

Background and objective: Thrombotic and microangiopathic effects have been reported in Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients. In the present study, we aimed to examine the relationship between hereditary thrombophilia factors and the clinical picture severity of COVID-19 patients. Methods: Ninety COVID-19 patients were included and grouped according to the severity to three groups: severe/critical (n=30), mild/moderate (n=30) and asymptomatic (n=30). Hereditary thrombophilia genetic markers [prothrombin (FII) G20210A, factor V Leiden (FVL) G1691A, factor XIII (FXIII) V34L, methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) A1298C and C677T, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) 4G & 5G] were genotyped for all patients. Results: Seventeen (18.9%) patients had the polymorphism 4G/4G PAI-1 and 48 (53.3%) had 4G/5G. In addition, the heterozygous GA FVL, MTHRF677CT, and MTHRF1298AC polymorphisms were detected in 11 (12.2%), 26 (28.9%), and 38 (42.2%) patients, respectively. The rate of severe/critical patients with PAI 4G/5G gene polymorphism was higher than the asymptomatic+moderate/mild patients, and the rate of severe/critically ill patients with PAI 4G/4G polymorphism was found to be lower than the asymptomatic+moderate/mild patients. No difference was evidenced between the distribution of deceased and survivors of the genotype groups. Conclusions: In the present study, we found that heterozygous 4G/5G PAI-1 polymorphism is associated with critical or severe COVID-19 picture, and that FVL, MTHFR, FXIII, and prothrombin polymorphisms were not directly related to COVID-19 severity.