Heme Oxygenase-1 (HMOX1) Gene
Polymorphisms, Thrombosis and COVID-19:
Correspondence
Rujittika Mungmunpuntipantip1, Viroj Wiwanitkit2
1 Private Academic Consultant, Bangkok, ailand
2 Chandigarh University, Punjab, India; Adjunct professor, Joesph Ayobabalola University, Ikeji-Arakeji, Nigeria
GMJ.2023;12:e2952
www.gmj.ir
Correspondence to:
Rujittika Mungmunpuntipantip, Private Academic Con-
sultant, Bangkok, Thailand.
Telephone Number: +662246641336
Email Address: rujittika@gmail.com
Received 2023-02-21
Revised 2023-03-06
Accepted 2023-03-11
Dear editor,
We would like to share ideas on the publi-
cation “Heme Oxygenase-1 (HMOX1)
Gene Polymorphisms as Predictive Markers of
Increased Risk of Thrombosis among Patients
with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
[1].” According to Shakir Mohammed et al.,
identifying patients at high risk for HMOX-
1 pathway activation and thrombosis as well
as determining the relationship between
HMOX-1 promoter polymorphisms and dis-
ease severity and increased risk of thrombosis
among COVID19 black patients may be help-
ful in developing a treatment plan to prevent
COVID-19 complications. The hypothesis
that HMOX-1 pathway activation and throm-
bosis are connected to greater morbidity in
blacks is presented in the publication by Sha-
kir Mohammed et al.
We disagree with them. This article’s discus-
sion of inherited traits may or may not be rel-
evant. We both agree that the genetic compo-
nent under investigation may be connected to
the desired result. The severity of COVID-19
is, however, correlated with a number of ge-
netic dierences, such as TMPRSS2, interleu-
kin 1B, TMPRSS2, and HLA polymorphisms
[2-5]. Also, there’s a probability that the cur-
rent asymptomatic COVID-19 is related to a
former clinical manifestation of the illness.
The consequences of unanticipated, poten-
tially puzzling genetic alterations should be
the focus of future research. In conclusion,
Shakir Mohammed et al.’s study on a single
genetic variant and conclusion for the inter-
relationship is still too preliminary, and there
may be confounders that can contribute to the
severity.
According to Shakir Mohammed et al.’s re-
port, HMOX-1 gene polymorphism in blacks
may be one of the causes, but it could also be
due to other uninvestigated genetic factors,
as previously mentioned. As evidence, in an
experimental study in which the HMOX-1
gene polymorphism was evaluated for its re-
lationship with disease severity, it was discov-
ered that there is also an impact from other
important genetic polymorphisms such as
NRF2, NQO1, and MT at the same time [6].
As a result, Shakir Mohammed et al.’s study
on a single genetic variant and conclusion for
the interrelationship is still too preliminary,
and there may be confounders that cause the
conclusion to be invalid. A study on a single
genetic variant and then drawing conclusions
about the association is a common pitfall if
the potential eect of other genetic variants is
not considered.[GMJ.2023;12:e2952]
DOI:10.31661/gmj.v12i0.2952
Conict of Interest
None.
Keywords: Heme Oxygenase-1; Thrombo-
sis; COVID-19
GMJ
Copyright© 2021, Galen Medical Journal.
This is an open-access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Email:info@gmj.ir
Mungmunpuntipantip R, et al. Heme Oxygenase-1 (HMOX1) and COVID-19
2GMJ.2023;12:e2952
www.gmj.ir
References
1. Shakir Mohammed M, Abdelsamea
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