Osteopontin as a biomarker for COVID-19 severity and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children: A pilot study

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Infectious Diseases
• Clinical Biomarker Research
• Immunology

Background:

• COVID-19 presents a spectrum of illness in children, ranging from asymptomatic to severe disease.
• Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) is a serious complication of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
• Identifying reliable biomarkers for disease severity and MIS-C is crucial for timely clinical management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate plasma osteopontin (OPN) as a potential biomarker for COVID-19 severity in children.
• To assess OPN's utility in distinguishing MIS-C from other COVID-19 presentations.
• To compare OPN's performance against other established inflammatory markers.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 26 pediatric patients (0-21 years) with COVID-19.
• Classification of patients into asymptomatic/mild, moderate, severe COVID-19, and MIS-C groups.
• Quantification of plasma OPN levels using ELISA and correlation with clinical data and other inflammatory markers.

Main Results:

• Osteopontin levels were significantly elevated in children with moderate, severe COVID-19, and MIS-C compared to asymptomatic/mild cases.
• OPN demonstrated superior ability to differentiate COVID-19 severity compared to erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, ferritin, lymphocyte/platelet counts, IL-2R, and IL-6.
• OPN levels correlated with clinical severity of COVID-19 and MIS-C.

Conclusions:

• Plasma osteopontin is a promising biomarker for assessing COVID-19 severity and identifying MIS-C in children.
• OPN may offer clinical utility in managing pediatric COVID-19 cases.
• Further prospective studies are needed to confirm OPN's specificity and positive predictive value.