ABSTRACT
Symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) range from asymptomatic to severe pneumonia and death. Detection of individuals at high risk for critical condition is crucial for control of the disease. Herein, for the first time, we profiled and analyzed plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) of mild and severe COVID-19 patients. We found that in comparison between mild and severe COVID-19 patients, Interleukin-37 signaling was one of the most relevant pathways; top significantly altered genes included POTEH, FAM27C, SPATA48, which were mostly expressed in prostate and testis; adrenal glands, small intestines and liver were tissues presenting most differentially expressed genes. Our data thus revealed potential tissue involvement, provided insights into mechanism on COVID-19 progression, and highlighted utility of cfDNA as a noninvasive biomarker for disease severity inspections.
Subject(s)
Pneumonia , Death , COVID-19ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the clinical features of critical cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods The clinical data of nine patients who were diagnosed with critical COVID-19 in Hainan General Hospital from January 21, 2020 to February 6, 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. RT-PCR testing for 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was performed with multi-sites synchronize specimens including pharyngeal swab, blood, excrement, and urine. The serum levels of leucocyte, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin and lactic acid between the improved group (five cases) and the deteriorated group (four cases) were compared. The t test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between groups. Results There were eight males (88.9%) and 1 female enrolled. The patients aged 28-77 years old, with an age of (52.9±18.0) years. By March 4, 2020, all five cases in improved group were cured and discharged, three cases in deteriorated group died and 1case remained in critical condition. All multi-sites specimens of patients in improved group turned negative in 2-4 weeks of illness onset, while those of cases in deteriorated group showed sustained viral nucleic acid positive (up to 48th day of illness onset). The white blood cell counts ((13.52±8.24)×10 9 /L vs (10.49±4.46) ×10 9 /L), C-reactive protein ((139.71±87.46) mg/L vs (78.60±55.40) mg/L) and procalcitonin ((2.32±4.03) ng/mL vs (0.28±0.58) ng/mL) , lactic acid ((3.70±4.14) mmol/L vs (2.33±0.53) mmol/L) in deteriorated group were all significantly higher than those in improved group ( t =2.908, 5.009, 4.391 and 2.942, respectively, all P <0.01). A rapid rise of serum IL-6 level up to 8 500 pg/mL was observed in one patient three days prior to death. Conclusion Among the patients with critical COVID-19, serum levels of inflammatory cytokines of the death cases are higher than those of improved and discharged cases.