Soluble P-selectin as a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for COVID-19 disease: A case-control study

• Published in: Life sciences (1973) 2021-07, Vol.277, p.119634-119634, Article 119634
• Main Authors: Karsli, Emre, Sabirli, Ramazan, Altintas, Emel, Canacik, Omer, Sabirli, Gizem Tukenmez, Kaymaz, Buse, Kurt, Özgür, Koseler, Aylin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomarkers; Biomarkers - blood; Case-Control Studies; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - blood; COVID-19 - diagnosis; COVID-19 infection; Diagnosis; Diagnostic systems; Disease control; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Female; Health services; Humans; Infections; Intensive care; Male; P-selectin; P-Selectin - blood; Patients; Pneumonia; Prognosis; Prospective Studies; ROC Curve; SARS-CoV-2 - isolation & purification; Serum soluble P-selectin levels; Severity of Illness Index; Viral diseases
• ISSN: 0024-3205; 1879-0631
• DOI: 10.1016/j.lfs.2021.119634

To our knowledge, the diagnostic value of the sP-Selectin level in the diagnosis of COVID-19 disease has not yet been investigated. In this study, we aimed to assess this by evaluating the relationship between sP-Selectin level and the clinical severity of COVID-19 infections. A total of 80 patients (50 with mild to moderate and 30 with severe COVID-19 pneumonia), and 60 non-symptomatic healthy volunteers participated in the study. Following serum isolation, sP-Selectin levels were assessed by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method. The serum sP-Selectin level was 1.7 ng/ml in the control group (1–3.78); 6.24 ng/ml (5.14–7.23) in mild-to-moderate pneumonia group; and 6.72 ng/ml (5.36–8.03) in the severe pneumonia group. Serum sP-Selectin levels in both mild-to-moderate pneumonia and severe pneumonia groups were found to be higher than the control group, with statistical significance (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic analysis (ROC) showed greater area under the curve (AUC) for the serum sP-Selectin levels of the COVID-19 patients (AUC = 0.913, 95% CI = 0.857–0.969; p = 0.0001). The serum sP-Selectin level was found to be 97.5% sensitive and 80% specific at 4.125 ng/ml level for diagnosis (p = 0.0001). The serum sP-Selectin level was found to be 76.9% sensitive and 51.9% specific at the level of 6.12 ng/ml (p = 0.005) to predict the need for intensive care treatment. This study showed that sP-Selectin can be used as a valuable biomarker in both diagnosing and predicting the need for intensive care treatment of COVID-19 infection.