Evaluation of serum total sialic acid in moderate COVID-19 patients with and without gastrointestinal tract manifestations.

BACKGROUND: It is known that SARS-CoV-2 mostly infects the respiratory system causing pneumonia; although it can also affect the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), which covered with a bi-layer of mucus rich in glycosylated proteins that terminated by sialic acid. Therefore; this study aimed to evaluate serum total sialic acid (TSA) in moderate COVID-19 patients with and without GIT manifestations. METHODS: A total of 161 moderate COVID-19 patients without and with GIT manifestations and 50 controls were enrolled into our study. Serum electrolytes levels were measured by using colorimetric or turbidmetric commercial assay kits, while the level of serum TSA was measured by using a commercial ELISA kit. RESULTS: Our results showed that serum TSA level was highly significantly increased in moderate COVID-19 patients with GIT manifestations (81.43 ± 8.91) when compared with controls (61.24 ± 6.41) or even moderate COVID-19 patients without GIT manifestations (69.46 ± 7.03). ROC curve analysis showed that AUC for TSA is 0.84 with 76.2 % sensitivity and 73.7 % specificity in discrimination between moderate COVID-19 patients with and without GIT manifestations. Serum potassium and sodium levels were highly significantly decreased in moderate COVID-19 patients with GIT manifestations when compared with controls or even moderate COVID-19 patients without GIT manifestations; while serum calcium level was found to be significantly decreased in moderate COVID-19 patients with GIT manifestations when compared with controls. CONCLUSION: Finally, we can conclude that SA plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of GIT complications associated with COVID-19 and could be a potential biomarker for the COVID-19 gastrointestinal complications.

Circulating plasma miR-155 is a potential biomarker for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Identification of human miRNAs involved in coronavirus-host interplay is important due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study aimed to measure the circulating plasma miR-155 expression level in COVID-19 patients and healthy controls to investigate its roles in the pathogenesis and severity of COVID-19 disease and to assess its usefulness as a clinical biomarker for the detection of COVID-19 disease and the severity of infection. A total of 150 COVID-19 patients and 50 controls were enrolled into our study. Beside the routine laboratory work and chest computed tomography (CT) scans of COVID-19 patients, plasma miR-155 expression level was measured using reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) technique. Our results demonstrated increased miR-155 expression level in COVID-19 patients compared to controls, in severe compared to moderate COVID-19 patients, and in non-survival compared to survival COVID-19 patients. miR-155 expression level also had significant correlation with clinicopathological characteristics of COVID-19 patients such as chest CT findings, CRP, ferritin, mortality, D-dimer, WBC count, and lymphocytes and neutrophils percentages. Also, our results showed that the area under the curve (AUC) for miR-155 was 0.986 with 90% sensitivity and 100% specificity when used as a biomarker for the detection of COVID-19 disease; while in detection of severity of COVID-19 disease, AUC for miR-155 was 0.75 with 76% sensitivity and specificity. From these results we can conclude that miR-155 has a crucial role in the pathogenesis and severity of COVID-19; also, it could be a good diagnostic clinical biomarker for the detection of COVID-19 disease and the severity of infection.

Interferon-γ-induced protein 10 (IP-10) and serum amyloid A (SAA) are excellent biomarkers for the prediction of COVID-19 progression and severity.

AIMS: Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are essential in reducing the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19-infected patients. The current study aimed to measure the levels of serum IP-10 and SAA in positive COVID-19 Egyptian patients to explore their clinical values and significance in discrimination between moderate and severe COVID-19 infection and predicting the severity and prognosis of COVID-19 disease. MAIN METHODS: A total of 150 COVID-19 patients and 50 controls were enrolled into our study. Beside the routine lab work of positive COVID-19 patients; IP-10 and SAA were measured using ELISA kit. KEY FINDINGS: Our results revealed that the levels of D-dimer (2.64 ± 3.34), ferritin (494.11 ± 260.96), SAA (171.89 ± 51.96), IP-10 (405.0 ± 85.27), WBCs count (14.38 ± 6.06) and neutrophils count (79.26 ± 5.57) were highly significantly increased in severe to critically severe patients when compared with mild to moderate patients; while lymphocytes count (14.21 ± 5.13) was highly significantly decreased when compared to moderate patients. ROC curve analysis results showed that AUC from high to low was IP-10 Ëƒ SAA Ëƒ Ferritin Ëƒ D-dimer Ëƒ CRP. SIGNIFICANCE: From these results we can conclude that both IP-10 and SAA could be excellent biomarkers in discrimination between moderate and severe COVID-19 infection and predicting the severity and prognosis of COVID-19 disease.