TY  - JOUR
TI  - Interleukin-21: a potential biomarker for diagnosis and predicting prognosis in COVID-19 patients
AB  - Background/aim: COVID-19 patients have a wide spectrum of disease severity. Several biomarkers were evaluated as predictors for progression towards severe disease. IL-21 is a member of common γ-chain cytokine family and creates some specific effects during programming and maintenance of antiviral immunity. We aimed to assess IL-21 as a biomarker for diagnosis and outcome prediction in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Materials and methods: Patients with a preliminary diagnosis of COVID-19 and pneumonia other than COVID-19 admitted to a tertiary care hospital were included consecutively in this comparative study. Results: The study population consisted of 51 patients with COVID-19 and 11 patients with non-COVID-19 pneumonia. Serum IL-21 concentration was markedly higher, and serum CRP concentration was significantly lower in COVID-19 patients compared to nonCOVID-19 pneumonia patients. Within COVID-19 patients, 10 patients showed radiological and clinical progression. Patients with clinical worsening had lower lymphocyte count and haemoglobin. In addition to that, deteriorating patients had higher urea, LDH levels, and elevated concentration of both IL-6 and IL-21. The cut-off value of 106 ng/L for IL-21 has 80.0% sensitivity, %60.9 specificity for discriminating patients with clinical worsening. Multivariable analysis performed to define risk factors for disease progression identified IL-6 and IL-21 as independent predictors. Odds ratio for serum IL-6 concentrations ≥ 3.2 pg/mL was 8.07 (95% CI: 1.37- 47.50, p = 0.04) and odds ratio for serum IL-21 concentrations ≥ 106 ng/L was 6.24 (95% CI: 1.04 – 37.3, p = 0.02). Conclusion: We identified specific differences in serum IL-21 between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 pneumonia patients. Serum IL-21 measurement has promising predictive value for disease progression in COVID-19 patients. High serum IL-6 and IL-21 levels obtained upon admission are independent risk factors for clinical worsening.Key words: COVID-19, interleukin 21, prognosis
AU  - KARACA, Mert
AU  - Gorek Dilektasli, Asli
AU  - Ediger, Dane
AU  - ÖZTÜRK, Nilüfer Aylin ACET
AU  - Demirdöğen, Ezgi
AU  - Karadağ, Mehmet
AU  - Uzaslan, Esra
AU  - Maharramov, Shahriyar
AU  - Yazıcı, Gamze
AU  - Ursavas, Ahmet
AU  - ORAL, HALUK BARBAROS
AU  - Yoyen-Ermis, Digdem
AU  - COŞKUN, FUNDA
DO  - 10.3906/sag-2102-24
PY  - 2021
JO  - Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences
VL  - 51
IS  - 5
SN  - 1300-0144
SP  - 2274
EP  - 2284
DB  - TRDizin
UR  - http://search/yayin/detay/478759
ER  -