In Silico Prediction of Functional SNPs Interrupting Antioxidant Defense Genes in Relation to COVID-19 Progression

The excessive production of reactive oxygen species and weakening of antioxidant defense system play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of different diseases. Extensive differences observed among individuals in terms of affliction with cancer, cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, bacterial, and viral infections, as well as response to treatments can be partly due to their genomic variations. In this work, we attempted to predict the effect of SNPs of the key genes of antioxidant defense system on their structure, function, and expression in relation to COVID-19 pathogenesis using in silico tools. In addition, the effect of SNPs on the target site binding efficiency of SNPs was investigated as a factor with potential to change drug response or susceptibility to COVID-19. According to the predicted results, only six missense SNPs with minor allele frequency (MAF) ≥ 0.1 in the coding region of genes GPX7, GPX8, TXNRD2, GLRX5, and GLRX were able to strongly affect their structure and function. Our results predicted that 39 SNPs with MAF ≥ 0.1 led to the generation or destruction of miRNA-binding sites on target antioxidant genes from GPX, PRDX, GLRX, TXN, and SOD families. The results obtained from comparing the expression profiles of mild vs. severe COVID-19 patients using GEO2R demonstrated a significant change in the expression of approximately 250 miRNAs. The binding efficiency of 21 of these miRNAs was changed due to the elimination or generation of target sites in these genes. Altogether, this study reveals the fundamental role of the SNPs of antioxidant defense genes in COVID-19 progression and susceptibility of individuals to this virus. In addition, different responses of COVID-19 patients to antioxidant defense system enhancement drugs may be due to presence of these SNPs in different individuals.