A 2021 in silico study highlighted an association between the CD14 polymorphism rs2569190 and increased susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of our study was to confirm this finding. We analysed the CD14 polymorphism (C→T; rs2569190) in 516 individuals who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, with differing disease severity (164 asymptomatic, 245 symptomatic, and 107 hospitalized). We then compared these patients with a sample from the general population consisting of 3,037 individuals using a case-control study design. In comparison with carriers of the C allele, TT homozygotes accounted for 21.7 % of controls and 20.5 % in SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals (P = 0.48; OR; 95 % CI - 0.92; 0.73-1.16). No significant differences in the distribution of genotypes were found when considering co-dominant and recessive genetic models or various between-group comparisons. The CD14 polymorphism is unlikely to be an important predictor of COVID-19 in the Caucasian population in Central Europe.

3rd Department of Medicine Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Clinic of Rheumatology and Physiotherapy 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University and Thomayer University Hospital Prague Czech Republic

Experimental Medicine Centre Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic

Preventive Cardiology Centre Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine Prague Czech Republic

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