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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but the pathogenesis is unclear. Host genetic background is one of the main factors influencing the patients' susceptibility to several viral infectious diseases. This study aimed to investigate the association between host genetic polymorphisms of two genes, including vitamin D receptor (VDR) and vitamin D binding protein (DBP), and susceptibility to COVID-19 in a sample of the Iranian population. This case-control study enrolled 188 hospitalized COVID-19 patients as the case group and 218 suspected COVID-19 patients with mild signs as the control group. The VDR (rs7975232, rs731236 and rs2228570) and DBP (rs7041) gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped by Polymerase Chain Reaction Restriction - Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. A significant association between rs2228570 SNP in the VDR gene and the susceptibility of COVID-19 was found between case and control groups. The CT genotype (Heterozygous) of rs2228570 C T polymorphism showed significant association with a 3.088 fold increased odds of COVID-19 (p .0001; adjusted OR: 3.088; 95% CI: 1.902-5.012). In addition, a significant association between CC genotype of rs2228570 CT polymorphism and increased odds of COVID-19 in male and female groups (p = .001; adjusted OR: 3.125; 95% CI: 1.630-5.991 and p = .002; adjusted OR: 3.071; 95% CI: 1.485-6.354 respectively) were determined. Our results revealed no significant differences in the frequency of genotype and allele of VDR (rs7975232 and rs731236) and DBP (rs7041) between SARS-CoV-2-infected patients and controls (p .05). Our results showed that polymorphism of VDR (rs2228570) probably could influence individual susceptibility to COVID-19. The polymorphisms of VDR (rs7975232 and rs731236) and DBP (rs7041) were not associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection susceptibility.

The human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) can cause ATL or TSP. This study evaluates the prevalence of HTLV-1 infection in blood donors in Golestan province. The study was conducted among 4226 blood donors and ELISA test was performed for the initial HTLV-1 screening. Reactive samples were confirmed by Western blot and Electrochemiluminescence tests. Then recalling donors with reactive results was done and genomic DNA from the new sample was extracted and tested using the Nested PCR method and phylogenetic analysis was performed. At first, 8 samples were reactive with ELISA test and 4 samples were confirmed with western blot, Electrochemiluminescence and Nested PCR tests.The sequences of isolates was related to the HTLV-1 virus and subtype a (cosmopolitan) subgroup A.The prevalence of HTLV-1 virus in Golestan province was about 0.09 %.The genotype of virus isolates had a common ancestor with isolates of the Khorasan region.

Background Host genetic factors and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in host genes play important roles in the progression of disease stages and response to treatment of viral infections, including hepatitis B infection. Vitamin D plays a key role in a wide range of biological activities such as the immune response, proliferation and cellular differentiation. Since the biological effects of this vitamin are affected by the Vitamin D receptor (VDR) and the vitamin D-Binding Protein (DBP), in this study we investigated the association between VDR and DBP SNPs with the risk of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection in Iranian patients. Methods Our case-control study consisted of two groups including 100 patients with CHB and 100 healthy controls. SNP of ApaI (rs7975232), TaqI (rs731236), BsmI (rs1544410) and FokI (rs2228570) VDR-related and DBP (rs7041) gene loci were determined by PCR-RFLP method. Serum ALT and AST levels and HBV virus load were determined and its association with SNP was investigated. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (V22.0). Results The results of this study showed that the TT (Homozygous Mutant) genotype of FokI locus (C>T; rs2228570) compared with CC (Homozygous Wild Type) and CT (Heterozygous) genotypes may be associated with an increased risk of CHB infection (P; 0.012, OR 2.674 (1.233–5.800), 95% CI). The T allele was also significantly associated with CHB infection (P; 0.009, OR 1.687 (1.136–2.506), 95% CI) compared to the C allele FokI. In this study, no significant relationship was found between CHB infection and rs7975232, rs731236, rs1544410 and rs7041 polymorphisms (P > 0.05). Also, there was no significant relationship between serum ALT and AST levels and HBV Viral load in patients with rs2228570 polymorphism (P > 0.05). Discussion According to the results, VDR FokI (rs2228570) polymorphism has an impact on the chance of chronicity of hepatitis B in Iranian patients.