ACE-2 Expression and Methylation Pattern in Bronchoalveolar LavageFluid and Bloods of Iranian ARDS Covid-19 Patients

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Reza Najafipour 1
Davood Mohammadi 2
Mabood Momeni 3
Sahar Moghbelinejad 4
1 Genetics Research Center, the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Science, Tehran, Iran.
2 Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
3 Khatam Pathobiology and Genetic Lab, Qazvin, Iran.
4 Research Institute for Prevention of Non -Communicable Diseases, Cellular and Molecular Research Centre, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
10.22088/IJMCM.BUMS.11.1.55
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression and methylation pattern of the
angiotensin I converting enzyme 2 (ACE
-2) in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)
covid
-9 patients. A total of 25 patients with covid
-19 ARDS and 20 controls were recruited.
Expression of the ACE
-2 gene was evaluated by quantitative real time PCR, and methylation of
CpG dinucleotides, in the ACE
-2 promoter, was quantified using bisulfite pyro
-sequencing. Our
results showed high expression of the ACE
-2 gene in the blood samples of ADRS patients (1.93±
0.67) in comparison to controls (0.62±0.35) (P = 0.03). Correspondingly, in ARDS
bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples, there was a high expression of this gene (1.8±0.78)
in comparison to controls (0.58±0.2) (p <0.05). Moreover, the methylation rate of the ACE
-2 gene
in blood samples of ARDS patients was 64.07 ±6.1 in comparison to controls (80.3 ±7.3)
(p<0.0001). In BALF samples, there was this pattern too (55.07 ±3.1 vs. 72.35±5.1) (p<0.0001).
Finally, a significant correlation was found between expression and methylation in BALF (R=
-
0.54, P= 0.002) and blood (R=
-0.321, P= 0.013) samples. These results indicated that aberrant
methylation of the ACE
-2 promoter might be associated with high expression of this gene and
the occurrence of ARDS in covid
-19 patients.
Keywords
Covid-19
ACE-2
expression
methylation