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Exploratory Study on Micronuclei and Metanuclear Abnormalities in Exfoliated Buccal Cells of COVID-19 Suspected
B Vishnu1, Senthil Murugan2, Vinoth K Kalidoss3
1Final MBBS Student, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Context:
SARS-CoV-2 virus causes COVID-19 by infecting nasal and oral cavities primarily by attaching its spike proteins to ACE 2 receptors expressed in epithelial cells.
Aim:
This study was done to evaluate the micronucleated cell count, metanuclear abnormalities, and genotoxic factor in exfoliated buccal mucosal cell among the COVID-19 suspected patients.
Settings And Design:
This cross-sectional study was conducted at AIIMS, Mangalagiri, between August and October 2022.
Methods:
One hundred COVID-19 suspected patients were recruited for this study after obtaining informed and written consent; buccal smear was obtained and stained for papanicolaou test (PAP). The PAP-stained slides were analyzed for micronuclei (MN), pyknotic, karyolytic, and karyorrhexic cell count, respectively. Based on their reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) report, the patients were grouped into COVID-19 positive and negative groups.
Statistical Analysis:
The genotoxicity factor was calculated using the micronucleated cell count from both the groups using mean and standard deviation.
Results:
The MN, micronucleated cell, pyknotic, karyolitic, and karyorrhexic cell count in COVID-19 positive patients were 24.12, 15.24, 3.08, 2.88 and 4.40, respectively, than COVID-19 negative patients 5.69, 8.17, 1.08, 1.00 and 2.43, respectively. The genotoxicity factor for SARS-CoV-2 was 2.68 which is a positive genotoxic effect on buccal mucosal cells.
Conclusion:
SARS-CoV-2 increases the expression of micronucleated cells, pyknotic cells, karyolytic cells, and karyorhexic cells and concludes SARS-CoV-2 is having cytogenotoxic effect on the buccal mucosal cells. This can be used as a reliable marker in identifying the early carcinogenic effects of virus causing COVID-19.
