IP-10 and MCP-1 as biomarkers predicting disease severity of COVID-19

Abstract Background: COVID-19 is a viral respiratory disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-Coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Patients with this disease may be more prone to venous or arterial thrombosis because of the activation of many factors involved in it, including inflammation, platelet activation and endothelial dysfunction. Therefore, this study focused on coagulation and thrombosis-related indicators (IP-10, MCP-1 and MIP1a) in COVID-19, with the hope to find biomarkers that can predict patients’ outcome. Methods: This is a retrospective single-center study involving 74 severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients recruited from the ICU department of the Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, China. The patients were divided into two groups: severe patients and critically ill patients. The serum IP-10, MCP-1 and MIP1a level in both groups was detected using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The clinical symptoms, laboratory test results and the outcome of COVID-19 patients were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The serum IP-10 and MCP-1 level in critically ill patients was significantly higher than that in severe patients (P < 0.001). However, no statistical difference in MIP1a between the two groups was found. The analysis of dynamic changes showed that these indicators remarkably increased in patients with poor prognosis. Since the selected patients were severe or critically ill, no significant difference was observed between survival and death. Conclusions: IP-10 and MCP-1 are biomarkers predicting the severity of COVID-19 disease and could be related to the risk of death in COVID-19 patients. In addition, anti-IP-10 antibody treatment may represent a new approach in COVID-19 patients, especially the ones with thrombotic events.