ABSTRACT
The global strategy to control coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) was based on the availability of COVID-19 vaccines [1]. Measurement of post-vaccination neutralizing antibodies (Abs) titer, has been shown to be related to protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection [2]. This work aims to improve vaccination data through the evaluation of neutralizing antibodies in triple-dose individuals. To this end, we have conducted a surveillance program focusing at measuring the concentration of IgG Abs against the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) and neutralizing Abs (NT) anti-SARS-CoV-2 that block the interaction between RBD and the surface receptor cellular angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE2), in the serum of individuals in the vaccination course. The study was conducted on workers from the University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (nTOT=169) who received the Vaxzevria/AstraZeneca vaccine (n=56) and on healthcare workers of the PTV University Hospital who received the Comirnaty/Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (n=113). Initially for both vaccines two doses were administered: Vaxzevria (12 weeks apart), Comirnaty (2 weeks apart). After the second dose, for the two vaccines has been registered an increase in Abs values both for RBD and NT Abs. As the second dose of the two vaccines has been given at very different time, Pfizer vaccine resulted to response with a higher Abs values earlier in time than Astrazeneca. Moreover, Abs values recorded for those who received Pfizer vaccine are higher up to an order of magnitude. After 6 months from the first dose, the average value Abs titer was 300 BAU/ml and 200 BAU/ml for Pfizer and Astrazeneca respectively. All patients received the Pfizer vaccine as third dose. This last dose gave rise again to an increase of the Abs levels, the average values obtained were 5300 BAU/ml and 3900 BAU/ml for Pfizer and Astrazeneca respectively. As concern NT Abs, we observed a similar pattern to RBD one. After 5 months from the third dose, almost one year from the first dose, antibodies level was over 1000 BAU/ml. Recent work provided Abs cut-off value of immunity against SARSCoV- 2 infection. Values reported range from 200 to 600 BAU/ml [3,4].From this perspective our data have shown a low risk of infection after 1 one year for subjects with a complete vaccine cycle.
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the recently uncovered human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 [1] presents a clinical spectrum that ranges from an asymptomatic condition to critical illness [2]. Patients with critical illness present respiratory failure, septic shock and/ or multi-organ failure induced by the so-defined cytokines storm [3]. Hepcidin modulates cellular iron export to plasma and extracellular fluid through ferroportin, which acts as hepcidin receptor and cellular iron exporter in vertebrates. Hepcidin is not routinely measured in COVID-19 patients, but some preliminary studies showed that high levels of hepcidin are associated with the severity of disease [4] as well as low levels of serum iron are correlated with the severity and mortality of disease and severe hypoxemia in intensive care unit (ICU) patients [5]. The aim of this study was to analyze retrospectively the levels of hepcidin in a group of COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Policlinico Tor Vergata of Rome, Italy. Thirty-eight patients from November 2020 to May 2021 because of pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 were enrolled in the study. Based on the clinical outcome, the patients were assigned to two groups: survivors and non-survivors. A series of laboratory parameters were monitored during the stay of the patients in the ICU and their levels correlated to the clinical outcome. The Hepcidin was determined with Intrinsic Hepcidin IDxTM ELISA kit (Intrinsic Lifesciences, San Diego, CA, USA) that is a competitive immunoenzymatic assay based on a monoclonal antibody (mAb) with high affinity to the Nterminus of hepcidin-25. Of the parameters measured, significant statistical differences in the level of hepcidin, IL-6, LDH, leucocyte count, LNR, NLR, neutrophils level, CRP, and TNF-alpha were observed between the survivors and non-survivors groups. Specifically, a higher level of hepcidin, IL-6, LDH, leucocyte count, LNR, NLR, neutrophils, CRP and TNF-alpha were measured in the non-survivor group compared to the survivor group. In conclusion, Hepcidin can be prognostic of the clinical outcome, moreover, it could be used together with other markers in a predictive algorithm of disease severity.
ABSTRACT
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of urine samples of Covid-19 patients and healthy controls have been collected and analyzed with a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and the actual version of the Tor Vergata electronic nose (E-Nose). This untargeted metabolic investigation leads to a set of 5 discriminative VOCs with 84.38%, 94.44%, 71.43% for accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. The E- Nose has sniffed Covid-19 subjects at 92.1 %, 100%, 85%, as the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity respectively. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Background: Sepsis is an infectious disease (the etiology can be viral or bacterial) with hight mortality, threatening human health. Clinicians need to diagnose the patient's infection in time and look for pathogens in order to develop an effective treatment plan;therefore, a quickly and early screen to diagnose sepsis has become an urgent problem in clinical laboratories. Different inflammatory factors are used to diagnose the sepsis;CRP, IL-6, PCT, ADM, lactate, D-dimer etc., but they also have limitations such as insufficient sensitivity and specificity and requiring additional examination cost. The aim of this study is to use leucocyte counts (neutrophils and monocytes that are activated from pathogenic virus or bacteria) and others morphological change with Mindray BC-6800-plus platform to diagnose sepsis early, quickly, conveniently and at low cost. Methods: A total 957 EDTA-k2 anticoagulant venous whole blood samples were collected: 70 control patients (blood donors) with a normal complete count blood and negative VES, and 887 samples hospitalized at the emergency department with symptoms attributable to sepsis with PCT request. All data was divided in 4 groups: control group, group where sepsis cannot be confirmed, group with confirmed sepsis diagnosis and a group with sepsis from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Morphometric and numeric parameters are reported with Mindray BC-6800 plus: blood count like positional parameters X, Y, Z of neutrophils, lymphocites and monocytes, PLT, NLR (neutrophil lymphocyte ratio) and IMG (index of immature granulocytes). For statistical analysis was used Shapiro Wilk test for distribution analysis and the non parametric Kruskal Wallis test to evaluate significative differences among the groups (p< 0.05) and also examined ROC curve analysis. Results: There is a statistically significant difference between control group and sepsis group for haematological parameters: positional parameters (Neu X, Y, Z;Mon X, Y, Z and Lym X, Y, Z), IMG, NLR, PLT. The roc curves highlight acceptable sensitivity and specificity values for some haematological parameters and suggest a possible cut-off. Conclusions: The BC-6800 plus can help the diagnosis of sepsis upon the admission to the emergency department using some morphological positional parameters.
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) can present with different grades of severity from mild to critical. Evaluation of biomarkers predicting severity is crucial to identify patients at high risk of disease progression and poor prognosis. Serum Amyloid A (SAA) is an acute-phase protein mainly produced by the liver in response to pro-inflammatory cytokines. In this study, we investigated SAA levels at admission (T1) and after 15 days (T2) of hospitalization in two groups of patients: survivors and non-survivors. At T1, the non-survivors showed higher SAA level than survivors (74 mg/dL vs 48.75 mg/dL). At T2, the survivor group value decreased to 6.55 mg/dL, the non-survivor group still showed high levels (51.1 mg/dL). The SAA level in control group was 0.35 mg/dL. Furthermore, a cut-off value of 63 mg/dL able to discriminate survivors from non-survivors was established by ROC curve analysis at T1. At T2, the cut-off decreased to 30.9 mg/dL. A similar decreasing trend was observed for D-Dimer, hsCRP, IL-6 and procalcitonin levels. The results of this retrospective study suggest that SAA is a good marker of COVID-19 disease alone and/or in combination with other inflammatory biomarkers. Identification of reliable prognostic analytes is of great clinical relevance, as it would improve patient management besides being costs saving.