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Updated: Jul 28, 2025

Candidate Gene Testing in Clinical Cohort Studies with Multiplexed Genotyping and Mass Spectrometry
Published on: June 21, 2018
The rs568408 variant in the IL-12A gene is associated with risk for COVID-19 in Iraqi patients
Falah Hasan Obayes Al-Khikani1,2, Zaytoon Abdulridha Alkhafaji1
1Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, University of Babylon, Hilla, Iraq.
Objectives:
The objective of the current study was to check the link between potential polymorphism in IL12A rs568408 and the possible risk of COVID-19 in the Iraqi population.
Materials And Methods:
Allele specific-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was carried out for genotyping and detection of IL12A rs568408 gene polymorphism in a case-control study of 125 severe COVID-19 cases and 60 controls. Patients were admitted to either Marjan medical city or Al-Sadeq hospital's COVID-19 wards between January and June 2022 in Iraq. The diagnosis of COVID-19 in each patient was confirmed by severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2-positive reverse transcription-PCR.
Results:
The distribution of both genotyping and allele frequencies of IL-12A rs568408 revealed significant differences between patients and control groups (P = 0.006 and P = 0.001, respectively). The IL12A rs568408 AA and AG variant genotypes were associated with a significantly increased risk of COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] = 5.19, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.13-23.82; P = 0.034) and (OR = 2.39, 95% CI = 1.16-4.94, P = 0.018), respectively, compared with the wild-type GG homozygote.
Conclusion:
These findings indicate that IL12A rs568408 GA/AA variant may contribute to the risk of COVID-19. This study is the first report about the association of IL12A rs568408 with COVID-19.
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