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Published on: December 19, 2020
A single transcript for the prognosis of disease severity in COVID-19 patients
Hongxing Lei1,2,3
1CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China. leihx@big.ac.cn.
Insights
S100A12 shows promise as a novel prognostic marker for COVID-19 severity. This marker
Area of Science:
- Infectious Diseases
- Biomarkers
- Genomics
Background:
- COVID-19 pandemic necessitates efficient resource allocation.
- Existing prognostic markers for COVID-19 severity have limited accuracy.
- Novel biomarkers are urgently needed for predicting disease progression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate S100A12, a known bacterial infection marker, as a prognostic tool for COVID-19 severity.
- To evaluate the association between S100A12 expression and disease severity across multiple infections.
- To compare S100A12's prognostic power against established markers in COVID-19.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 1695 samples from 14 independent transcriptome datasets.
- Examination of S100A12 expression in sepsis, influenza, and COVID-19 cohorts.
- Correlation analysis of S100A12 levels with clinical severity indices and outcomes.
Main Results:
- S100A12 validated as a marker for sepsis and severe influenza.
- Elevated S100A12 expression observed in severe and critical COVID-19 cases.
- S100A12 at admission robustly predicted COVID-19 severity, outperforming CRP, PCT, d-dimer, ferritin, LDH, and fibrinogen.
Conclusions:
- S100A12 is a potent and novel prognostic biomarker for COVID-19 severity.
- S100A12 offers superior predictive value compared to current standard markers.
- Further investigation into S100A12 for clinical application in COVID-19 is warranted.
Abstract:
With many countries strapped for medical resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is highly desirable to allocate the precious resources to those who need them the most. Several markers have been found to be associated with the disease severity in COVID-19 patients. However, the established markers only display modest prognostic power individually and better markers are urgently needed. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of S100A12, a prominent marker gene for bacterial infection, in the prognosis of disease severity in COVID-19 patients. To ensure the robustness of the association, a total of 1695 samples from 14 independent transcriptome datasets on sepsis, influenza infection and COVID-19 infection were examined. First, it was demonstrated that S100A12 was a marker for sepsis and severity of sepsis. Then, S100A12 was found to be a marker for severe influenza infection, and there was an upward trend of S100A12 expression as the severity level of influenza infection increased. As for COVID-19 infection, it was found that S100A12 expression was elevated in patients with severe and critical COVID-19 infection. More importantly, S100A12 expression at hospital admission was robustly correlated with future quantitative indexes of disease severity and outcome in COVID-19 patients, superior to established prognostic markers including CRP, PCT, d-dimer, ferritin, LDH and fibrinogen. Thus, S100A12 is a valuable novel prognostic marker for COVID-19 severity and deserves more attention.
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