Serum proteomic profiling reveals potential inflammatory biomarkers in long-COVID patients: a comparative analysis with healthy controls

M.C. Medori, K. Dhuli, S. Tezzele, C. Micheletti, P.E. Maltese, S. Cecchin, G. Bonetti, F. Fioretti, A. Calzoni, A. Praderio, M.G. De Angelis, G. Arabia, K. Donato, L. Lorusso, P. Manganotti, E. Capelli, S. Cristoni, S. Nodari, M. Bertelli

MAGI’S LAB, Rovereto, Trento, Italy. chiara.medori@assomagi.org

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• Infectious Diseases
• Respiratory Medicine

OBJECTIVE: The highly transmissible severe acute respiratory syndrome-Coronavirus-2 was responsible for the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 mostly affects the respiratory system; however, this infection also affects several other organs. In addition, the sequelae of this disease affect patients for several months after recovery, resulting in long-COVID syndrome.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: In order to characterize the differences between healthy control individuals and long-COVID patients, proteomic profiling of the serum of both groups was performed by mass spectrometry. The obtained data were analyzed with multivariate and univariate statistical analyses.

RESULTS: Initially, performing a partial latent square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) made it possible to identify thirty-three proteins of interest, which were then subjected to a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Four proteins were identified as potential stand-alone biomarkers: Sirtuin 1, Natriuretic Peptide B, Hemopexin, and Arachidonate 5-Lipoxygenase. Moreover, a multivariate ROC analysis identified a panel of biomarkers composed of Natriuretic Peptide B, Anterior Gradient 2 Protein, Adiponectin, Endothelin Converting Enzyme 1, Interferon Induced Transmembrane Protein 1, Mannose Binding Lectin 2, Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthase 2, Pirin, Prostaglandin Reductase 1 and Cystatin C.

CONCLUSIONS: The identified biomarkers are associated with inflammatory processes, corroborating literature evidence that long-COVID patients develop an inflammatory state that damages many tissues. Nevertheless, these data should be validated in a larger cohort.

Published on: 2023/12/18

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