Association of Variant rs4646994 of the ACE Gene With the Presence of Post-COVID Syndrome in COVID-19 Convalescents

Aim: To study the association of variant rs4646994 of the ACE gene with the presence of post-COVID syndrome (PCS) in COVID-19 convalescents. Materials and methods: A sample of 270 COVID-19 convalescents, average age 53.2 ± 13.2 years: 62 without PСS (average age - 48.9 ± 13.6 years, proportion of men - 36 (58.1%)) and 208 with PСS (average age – 54.5 ± 12.8 years, proportion of men – 94 (45.2%)). The study took into account medical history, anthropometry, a number of biochemical blood parameters, echocardiography data. Genotyping of the rs4646994 variant of the ACE gene was performed using the allele-specific PCR method followed by electrophoresis of PCR products in a 3% polyacrylamide gel. Statistical processing of the obtained results was performed using the SPSS software package (version 13.0). Results: When comparing the groups of COVID-19 convalescents without PСS and COVID-19 convalescents with PСS, no statistically significant differences were found in the frequency of the rs4646994 genotypes of the ACE gene (p = 0.429). There was also no difference between the groups of COVID-19 convalescents without PСS and COVID-19 convalescents with PСS in the frequency of alleles I and D rs4646994 of the ACE gene (p = 0.419, p = 0.419, respectively). No association was found between the rs4646994 variant of the ACE gene and the cardiovascular and endocrine phenotypes (p = 0.410 and p = 0.741, respectively). Conclusion: According to the study, there was no association of the rs4646994 variant of the ACE gene with the presence of PCS, cardiovascular and endocrine phenotypes.