AUTHOR=Ghaffari Kazem , Rad Mahsa Ashrafi , Moradi Hasan-Abad Amin , Khosravi Mersedeh , Benvidi Arefeh , Iraji Mahsa , Khargh Heidar Ali Heidari , Ghasemi Ali 

TITLE=Association of the human platelet antigens polymorphisms with platelet count in patients with COVID-19

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2023.1265568

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2023.1265568

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=<p>Polymorphism in human platelet antigen (HPA)-1 and HPA-3 (GPIIb/IIIa), HPA-2 (GPIb/IX), HPA-4 (GPIIIa), HPA-5 (GPIa/IIa), &amp; HPA-15 (CD109) was investigated in 86 COVID-19-infected patients with thrombocytopenia (Group A) and 136 COVID-19-infected patients without thrombocytopenia (Group B). HPA genotyping was done by the sequence-specific primers PCR method. Lower HPA-3a and higher HPA-3b (<italic>P</italic> = 0.028) allele frequencies were seen in Group A than in Group B, and homozygosity for HPA 3b (<italic>P</italic> = 0.038) alleles was more prevalent in Group A than in Group B. The allele and genotype distributions of the other HPA polymorphic variants were similar between the two groups. Univariate analysis identified the CCGGGC (<italic>P</italic> = 0.016) combined genotype to be negatively associated &amp; the TCGGGC (<italic>P</italic> = 0.003) and CCGGGC (<italic>P</italic> = 0.003) to be positively associated with thrombocytopenia. The frequency of anti-HPA-1a and anti-HPA-3a antibodies was significantly higher in all patients compared to other anti-HPAs antibodies (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05). These results highlight the role of HPAs in the thrombocytopenia of COVID-19 infected patients. This is the first evidence demonstrating the differential association of the six common HPA gene variants and specific HPA genotype combinations with thrombocytopenia in COVID-19-infected patients.</p>