Abstract
Objective : To date, over 75 million people have been infected
in the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2
which emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019. This study examined the
relationships between serum monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1)
and surfactant protein-A (SP-A) levels and the clinical course and
prognosis of COVID-19.
Method: The study included a total of 108 subjects. Those in
the patient group (n=88) were diagnosed with COVID-19 using real-time
PCR analysis of nasopharyngeal swab samples and treated in the Atatürk
University Pulmonary Diseases and the City Hospital Infectious Diseases
department between March 24 and April 15. The control group (n=20)
included asymptomatic healthcare workers whose real-time PCR results
during routine COVID-19 screening in our hospital were negative.
Results: The COVID-19 patient group had significantly higher
MCP-1 and SP-A levels compared to the control group (p=0.001, p=0.001).
Patients who developed macrophage activation syndrome had significantly
higher MCP-1 and SP-A levels than those who did not both at admission
(p=0.001, p=0.001) and on day 5 of treatment (p=0.05, p=0.04).
Similarly, MCP-1 and SP-A levels were significantly higher in patients
who developed acute respiratory distress syndrome compared to those who
did not at both time points (p=0.001 for all). Both parameters were
significantly higher in nonsurviving COVID-19 patients compared to
survivors (p=0.001 for both).
Conclusion: MCP-1 and SP-A are on opposing sides of the
inflammatory balance, and SP-A may be a pneumoprotein of importance in
the presentation, course, prognosis, and possibly the treatment of
COVID-19 in the future.
Keywords: COVID-19, surfactant protein-A, monocyte
chemoattractant protein-1