Proteomic and Metabolomic Characterization of COVID-19 Patient Sera

Abstract

Background: Recently, dyslipidaemia was observed in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), especially in severe cases. This study aimed to explore the predictive value of blood lipid levels for COVID-19 severity. Methods: All patients with COVID-19 admitted to HwaMei Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, from January 23 to April 20, 2020, were included in this retrospective study. General clinical characteristics and laboratory data (including blood lipid parameters) were obtained, and their predictive values for the severity were analysed. Results: In total, 142 consecutive patients with COVID-19 were included. The non-severe group included 125 cases, and 17 cases were included in the severe group. Total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and apolipoprotein A1 (ApoA1) at baseline were signi cantly lower in the severe group. ApoA1 and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were recognized as independent risk factors for COVID-19 severity. ApoA1 had the highest area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) among all the single markers (AUC: 0.896, 95% CI: 0.834-0.941). Moreover, the risk model established using ApoA1 and IL-6 enhanced the predictive value (AUC: 0.977, 95% CI: 0.932-0.995). On the other hand, ApoA1 levels were elevated in the severe group during treatment, and there was no signi cant difference between the severe and non-severe groups during the recovery stage of the disease. Conclusion: The blood lipid pro le in severe COVID-19 patients is quite different from that in non-severe cases. Serum ApoA1 could severe as a good indictor to re ect the severity of COVID-19.

Severe SARS-CoV-2 infection is defined by a shift in the serum lipidome resulting in dysregulation of eicosanoid lipid immune mediators

“…Changes in primarily polar metabolites among COVID-19 patient cohorts from China, Italy, and France have been reported. [9][10][11][12] In agreement with those studies, we observed a dysregulation of amino acid pools, interruption of the glucose to lactate balance, and dysregulation of nucleotide catabolic products such as xanthine, hypoxanthine, and urate (Sup. Fig.…”

“…[4][5][6] While several studies have examined the systemic metabolic correlates of COVID-19, a well resolved interrogation of the lipidomic changes in COVID-19 severity has not been pursued. [9][10][11][12] To measure lipidomic changes in COVID-19 and gain mechanistic insights into how these changes may drive disease severity, we used serum draws from 19 healthy patients (healthy), 18 COVID-19 patients who did not require ICU admission (moderate) and 20 patients that required ICU admission (severe). The demographics, preexisting conditions, and treatment details of these patients are indicated in Table 1.…”

A Preliminary Study on Blood Lipid Profile in Patients with COVID-19

“…Previous studies have reported that lipid metabolism impairment may be involved in the pathogenesis of sepsis secondary to pneumonia and in uenza [8][9][10]. Similarly, recent studies observed dyslipidemia in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, using MS analysis [6,7] and routine laboratory lipid tests [11], indicating that blood lipid might involve in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. In the study of Wei et al [11], a serum hypolipidemia was found in the COVID-19 patients, which showed that the serum level of TC, HDL-C and LDL-C in the patients with COVID-19 were signi cantly lower than healthy subjects, especially in the severe and critical cases.…”

“…Consequently, some clinical characteristics, the in ammation index and cytokine levels have been used as indictors to re ect the severity of COVID-19 by us and others [4,5]. Recently, emerging evidence suggested that lipid metabolism dysregulation might promote the progression of COVID-19 as revealed by mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics analysis [6,7]. Although MS analysis is not commonly performed, blood lipid is routinely examined using automatic biochemical instruments in clinical laboratories.…”

The Trans-omics Landscape of COVID-19

“…For example, meta-transcriptome sequencing was conducted on the bronchoalveolar lavage uid of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients 18 . Proteomic and metabolomic analyses of the serum from COVID-19 patients have also been investigated [19][20][21] . However, from the data so far, it remains di cult to determine which parameters are due to infection from the virus and which to comorbidities as no systematic study of the disease have been published thus far.…”