Clinical and thyroid profile in patients with COVID-19 hospitalized in an intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to summarize the epidemiological and clinical features of thyroid function in COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Civil Fray Antonio Alcalde Hospital in Mexico. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study that included 63 ICU patients with COVID-19 from August 2021 to December 2021. Thyroid function was evaluated through the TSH, T4, T3, and FT3 measures. Comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM), arterial hypertension (HT), body mass index (BMI), and biochemical biomarkers, including procalcitonin (PCT) and C reactive protein (CRP), were also analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 63 patients with COVID-19 were hospitalized in the ICU; 42 (67%) were male, and 21 (33%) were female, with a mean age of 47 (range of 26-76 years). A total of 49 (78%) patients were non-vaccinated, 5 (8%) had an incomplete vaccination schedule, and 4 (6%) had completed the vaccination schedule. Regarding BMI, 10 (16%) were overweight, and 26 (40%) reported obesity. When assessing thyroid function, 8 (13%) patients were euthyroid, and 55 (87%) showed alterations on the thyroid hormonal axis, mainly a low concentration of TSH (0.56±0.79; p=0.0001) and FT3 (2.34±0.52; p=0.0006). In addition, increased PCT concentrations were associated with a higher risk to decease (1.22 vs. 8.21; p=0.0001) in this group of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our findings, it appears that COVID-19 patients with low TSH and FT3 levels, who have not been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, are overweight or obese, and exhibit high levels of PCT are more likely to experience a poor prognosis and even mortality.

Calpain-10 gene polymorphisms and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Mexican mestizos.

The calpain-10 gene is expressed primarily in tissues important in glucose metabolism; thus, some of its polymorphisms have been associated with type 2 diabetes. In this study, we examined the association between the calpain-10 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-43, SNP-19, and SNP-63 and type 2 diabetes in Mexican mestizos. We included 211 patients and 152 non-diabetic subjects. Polymerase chain reaction was used to identify alleles. We compared allele, genotype, haplotype, and diplotype frequencies between both groups and used the chi-square test to calculate the risk. The allele frequency of SNP-43 allele 1 was 70% in controls and 72% in patients; the GG, GA, and AA genotype frequencies were 48.7, 42.8, and 8.5% in controls and 51.2, 41.7, and 7.1% in patients, respectively. For SNP- 19, the prevalence of allele 1 (2R) was 32% in controls and 39% in patients. In controls, homozygosity (2R/2R) was 10.5%, heterozygosity was 42.8%, and 3R/3R was 46.7%; in cases, these values were 13.3, 50.7, and 36.0%, respectively. For SNP-63, the frequency of allele 1 was 87% in controls and 83% in patients; genotype frequencies in controls were 75.7% (CC), 23% (CT), and 1.3% (TT), and were 69.7, 27.5, and 2.8%, respectively for the cases. Genotype distributions were consistent with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. No significant intergroup differences for allele, genotype, haplotype, or diplotype frequencies were observed. We found no association between these polymorphisms and diabetes. However, our sample size was small, so the role of calpain-10 risk alleles should be further examined.

MDR1 C3435T polymorphism in Mexican patients with breast cancer.

We investigated whether the MDR1 C3435T polymorphism is associated with fibrocystic changes (FCC), infiltrating ductal breast cancer (IDBC), and/or clinical-pathological features of IDBC in Mexican patients. Samples from women who received surgical treatment in 2007 at the Centro Médico de Occidente (México) were included in the analysis. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restricted fragment length polymorphisms in 64 paraffin-embedded breast samples with IDBC, 64 samples with FCC, and 183 peripheral blood samples of healthy females designated as the healthy group (HG). The frequency of the T allele was 41, 45, and 52% for the FCC, IDBC, and HG samples, respectively. Significant differences were only found between the FCC and HG samples [odds ratio (OR) = 0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.43-0.96; P = 0.032]. The prevalence of the T/T genotype was 8, 13, and 24% for FCC, IDBC, and HG samples, respectively. Again, statistical differences were only found between FCC and HG samples for the T/T genotype (OR = 0.28, 95%CI = 0.106-0.77; P = 0.009). Although the T allele and the T/T genotype were less frequent in the IDBC group than in the HG, the differences were not significant. Furthermore, no associations were found between the C3435T polymorphism and clinical-pathological features of the IDBC group. Both the FCC and IDBC groups had a high frequency of the C allele relative to the HG in this sample of women from Western Mexico.

MLH1 and XRCC1 polymorphisms in Mexican patients with colorectal cancer.

DNA repair proteins maintain DNA integrity; polymorphisms in genes coding for these proteins can increase susceptibility to colorectal cancer (CRC) development. We analyzed a possible association of MLH1 -93G>A and 655A>G and XRCC1 Arg194Trp and Arg399Gln polymorphisms with CRC in Mexican patients. Genomic DNA samples were obtained from peripheral blood of 108 individuals with CRC (study group) at diagnosis and 120 blood donors (control group) from Western Mexico; both groups were mestizos. The polymorphisms were detected by PCR-RFLP. Association was estimated by calculating the odds ratio (OR). We found that the MLH1 and XRCC1 polymorphisms were in Hardy- Weinberg equilibrium. The MLH1 655A>G polymorphism in the 655G allele was associated with a 2-fold increase risk for CRC (OR = 2.04 and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 1.12-3.69; P < 0.01), while the MLH1 -93G>A polymorphism allele was associated with a protective effect (OR = 0.60, 95%CI = 0.40-0.89; P = 0.01 in the -93A allele and OR = 0.32, 95%CI = 0.13-0.79; P = 0.01 in the AA genotype). The XRCC1 Arg194Trp and Arg399Gln polymorphisms did not show any significant associations. In conclusion, we found that MLH1 -93G>A and 655A>G polymorphisms are associated with CRC in Mexican patients.

XRCC1 polymorphisms and haplotypes in Mexican patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

We examined the influence of the Arg194Trp, Arg280His, and Arg399Gln polymorphisms of XRCC1 (X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1) on the development of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in 120 ALL patients and 120 controls in Mexico. All of them were genotyped for these polymorphisms, using polymerase chain reaction. No significant differences in allele and genotype frequencies for any polymorphism were observed between patients and controls. Estimation of haplotypes showed the eight expected haplotypes (A-H), seven of which were found in both patients and controls; haplotype A (Arg-Arg-Arg) was the most common, whereas haplotypes F and G were absent in patients and controls, respectively. Haplotype B (Trp-Arg-Arg) was found to be associated with an increased risk of ALL (odds ratio (OR) = 1.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.13-3.37; P = 0.016), particularly in males (OR = 2.65, 95%CI = 1.25-5.63; P = 0.01). Individually, the 194Trp, 280His, and 399Gln alleles were not associated with significantly increased risk for ALL in these Mexican children.