Plasma IP-10 and MCP-3 levels are highly associated with disease severity and predict the progression of COVID-19

Abstract

Background: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was first reported in Wuhan, December 2019, and continuously poses a serious threat to public health, highlighting the urgent need of identifying biomarkers for disease severity and progression. Objective: We sought to identify biomarkers for disease severity and progression of COVID-19. Methods: Forty-eight cytokines in the plasma samples from 50 COVID-19 cases including 11 critically ill, 25 severe, and 14 moderate patients were measured and analyzed in combination with clinical data. Results: Levels of 14 cytokines were found to be significantly elevated in COVID-19 cases and showed different expression profiles in patients with different disease severity. Moreover, expression levels of IFN-g-induced protein 10, monocyte chemotactic protein-3, hepatocyte growth factor, monokine-induced gamma IFN, and macrophage inflammatory protein 1 alpha, which were shown to be highly associated with disease severity during disease progression, were remarkably higher in critically ill patients, followed by severe and then the moderate patients. Serial detection of the 5 cytokines in 16 cases showed that continuously high levels were associated with deteriorated progression of disease and fatal outcome. Furthermore, IFN-g-induced protein 10 and monocyte chemotactic protein-3 were excellent predictors for the progression of COVID-19, and the combination of the 2 cytokines showed the biggest area under the curve of the receiver-operating characteristics calculations with a value of 0.99. Conclusions: In this study, we report biomarkers that are highly associated with disease severity and progression of COVID-19. These findings add to our understanding of the immunopathologic mechanisms of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, and provide potential therapeutic targets and strategies.

Whole blood immunophenotyping uncovers immature neutrophil-to-VD2 T-cell ratio as an early prognostic marker for severe COVID-19

“…In addition, immature neutrophil numbers strongly correlated with IL-6 and IP-10. IL-6 and IP-10 are consistently upregulated during a cytokine storm and are associated with severe ARDS 9,10,31,32 . While some studies report inflammatory monocytes as the source of IL-6 9,33,34 , our results suggest that immature neutrophils could also be a non-negligible source of IL-6 during COVID-19-induced cytokine storm.…”

Hydroxychloroquine/ Chloroquine in Patients With COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: A Retrospective Study

“…Lopinavir/ Ritonavir and Remdesivir, showed that these drugs were not that effective as we had expected in Chinese patients with COVID-19 [4,5]. Because several in ammatory factors are observed dramatically increasing, overreactive immunopathological mechanisms are surmised to be responsible for multiple organ damage in COVID-19 [6]. Some researchers hypothesize that patients with COVID-19 might bene t from some antirheumatic drugs, such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)/ chloroquine (CQ) and tocilizumab (TCZ),for their effects on immune regulation and suppression [7].…”

Viral shedding and immunological features of children COVID-19 patients

“…The plasma of the children COVID-19 patients (N = 11) were collected at the earliest possible time-point after hospitalization. The concentrations of 48 cytokines and chemokines were measured using Bio-Plex Pro Human Cytokine Screening Panel (Bio-Rad) as previously reported together with plasma collected from 50 adult patients and 8 healthy control [17,18].…”

“…Recent studies have elucidated the viral shedding patterns of SARS-CoV-2 mainly based on adult patients [11][12][13][14]. Cytokine storm, which contributes to acute lung injury and development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) [15], has been found during SARS-CoV-2 infection [16][17][18]. Meanwhile, several cytokines have been shown to closely associate with the diseases severity and outcome of COVID-19 in adults [18].…”

“…Cytokine storm, which contributes to acute lung injury and development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) [15], has been found during SARS-CoV-2 infection [16][17][18]. Meanwhile, several cytokines have been shown to closely associate with the diseases severity and outcome of COVID-19 in adults [18]. However, whether the cytokine storm occurred in children patients is also currently unclear.…”