ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate insulin-like growth factor binding protein 5 (IGFBP5) expression in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients and its relationships with COVID-19 laboratory findings and plasma osteopontin (OPN) levels. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We enrolled 60 patients with COVID-19 and 30 healthy individuals in this study. mRNA expression of IGFBP5 was measured by RT-PCR. Plasma OPN levels were measured via the ELISA method. RESULTS: Plasma OPN levels were higher and IGFBP5 expression levels were lower in COVID-19 patients than in the healthy individuals (p â= â0.0057 and p â= â0.0142, respectively). Critically ill patients had higher OPN and lower IGFBP5 than non-critically ill patients. Patients with affected lungs demonstrated increased OPN and decreased IGFBP5 (p â= â0.00032 and p â= â0.044, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis indicated that IGFBP5 expression and OPN levels can be used discriminate non-critically from critically ill patients (p â= â0.049; p â= â0.0016, respectively). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that patients with a poor prognosis had increased OPN and decreased IGFBP5. High values of OPN and low values of IGFBP5 may be considered as signs of disease severity. Tissue-specific IGFBP5 expression may contribute to understanding the role of IGFBP5 in the lungs in COVID-19 cases.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Coronavirus-19 is still considered a pandemic that influences the world. Other molecular alterations should be clearer besides the increasing cytokine storm and pro-inflammatory molecules. Hypoxic conditions that induce HIF-1α lead to stimulate gene expression of STC-2 that targets PAPP-A expression. This study aimed to determine gene expression levels of PAPP-A, STC-2, and HIF-1α in COVID-19 infection. We also aimed to reveal the relationship of these genes with laboratory and clinical data of COVID-19 patients. MATERIALS AND RESULTS: We extracted RNA from peripheral blood samples of COVID-19(+) and COVID-19(-) individuals. The real-time PCR method was used to measure mRNA expression of PAPP-A, STC-2, and HIF-1α. Gene expression analysis was evaluated by the 2-ΔΔCt method. PAPP-A, STC-2, and HIF-1α mRNA expressions of severe patients were higher than healthy individuals (p = 0.0451, p = 0.4466, p < 0.0001, respectively). Correlation analysis of gene expression patterns of severe patients demonstrated a positive correlation between PAPP-A and STC-2 (p < 0.0001, r = 0.8638). CONCLUSION: This is the first study that investigates the relation of PAPP-A, STC-2, and HIF-1α gene expression in patients with COVID-19 infection. Besides the routine laboratory findings, PAPP-A, STC-2, and HIF-1α mRNA expressions may be considered to patients' prognosis as a sign of increased cytokines and pro-inflammatory molecules.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Glycoproteins , Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit , Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins , Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A , COVID-19/genetics , Gene Expression , Glycoproteins/genetics , Humans , Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit/genetics , Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins/genetics , Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A/genetics , RNA, Messenger/genetics , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
The pandemic of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 affects millions of people worldwide. There are still many unknown aspects to this infection which affects the whole world. In addition, the potential impacts caused by this infection are still unclear. Amino acid metabolism, in particular, contains significant clues in terms of the development and prevention of many diseases. Therefore, this study aimed to compare amino acid profile of COVID-19 and healthy subject. In this study, the amino acid profiles of patients with asymptomatic, mild, moderate, and severe/critical SARS-CoV-2 infection were scanned with LC-MS/MS. The amino acid profile encompassing 30 amino acids in 142 people including 30 control and 112 COVID-19 patients was examined. 20 amino acids showed significant differences when compared to the control group in COVID-19 patient groups with different levels of severity in the statistical analyses conducted. It was detected that the branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) changed in correlation with one another, and L-2-aminobutyric acid and L-phenylalanine had biomarker potential for COVID-19. Moreover, it was concluded that L-2-aminobutyric acid could provide prognostic information about the course of the disease. We believe that a new viewpoint will develop regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis as a result of the evaluation of the serum amino acid profiles of COVID-19 patients. Determining L-phenylalanine and L-2-aminobutyric levels can be used in laboratories as a COVID-19-biomarker. Also, supplementing COVID patients with taurine and BCAAs can be beneficial for treatment protocols.