Detection of a large deletion in the P-selectin (SELP) gene

Serum interleukin 1β and sP-selectin as biomarkers of inflammation and thrombosis, could they be predictors of disease severity in COVID 19 Egyptian patients? (a cross-sectional study)

BACKGROUND

Thromboembolism was a chief cause of mortality in 70% of patients with COVID-19. Our objective was to see if serum interleukins 1 beta (IL-1β) and soluble platelets selectin (sP-selectin) could serve as novel markers of thromboembolism in COVID-19 patients.

METHODS

This cross sectional study involved 89 COVID-19 patients who were recruited from 1st of February to 1st of May 2021. Clinical and laboratory data were collected, and chest imaging was performed. The levels of IL-1β and sP-selectin were assessed in all cases through ELISA kits. Comparisons between groups were done using an unpaired t-test in normally distributed quantitative variables. In contrast, a non-parametric Mann-Whitney test was used for non-normally distributed quantitative variables.

RESULTS

Severe COVID-19 infection was associated with higher serum levels of CRP, Ferritin, LDH, D dimer, IL-1β and sP-selectin (P <  0.001) with significant correlation between levels of IL-1β and sP-selectin (r 0.37, P <  0.001), D-dimer (r 0.29, P 0.006) and Ferritin (r 0.5, p <  0.001). Likewise, a positive correlation was also found between levels of sP-selectin, D-dimer and Ferritin (r 0.52, P <  0.001) (r 0.59, P <  0.001). Imaging studies revealed that 9 (10.1%) patients developed venous and 14 (15.7%) developed arterial thrombosis despite receiving anticoagulant therapy. Patients with thrombotic events had significantly higher levels of IL-1β, sP-selectin and LDH serum levels. Meanwhile, there was no statistical significance between CRP, D-dimer or Ferritin levels and the development of thrombotic events.

CONCLUSION

IL-1β and sP-selectin levels can be promising predictors for severe COVID-19 infection and predictable thrombosis.

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

Introduction

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.

Methods

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.

Results

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.

Conclusion

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.

The Inhibition of P-Selectin Reduced Severe Acute Lung Injury in Immunocompromised Mice

In an immunocompetent host, excess infiltration of immune cells in the lung is a key factor in infection-induced severe acute lung injury. Kidney transplant patients are immunocompromised by the use of immunosuppressive drugs. Immune cell infiltration in the lung in a renal transplant recipient suffering from pulmonary infection is significantly less than that in an immunocompetent host; however, the extent of lung injury in renal transplant patients is more serious than that in immunocompetent hosts. Therefore, we explored the role of platelet activation in a Klebsiella pneumoniae-induced lung injury model with P-selectin gene knockout mice or wild-type mice. Our study suggested that the inhibition of platelets reduced severe acute lung injury and increased survival after acute lung infection in mice. In addition, P-selectin expression on the surface of platelets in mice increased after administration of immunosuppressive drugs, and the extent of lung injury induced by infection decreased in P-selectin gene knockout mice. In conclusion, p-selectin plays a key role in severe acute lung injury in immunocompromised mice by reducing platelet activation and inflammatory processes.

Research Progress on the Relationship between Atherosclerosis and Inflammation

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease; unstable atherosclerotic plaque rupture, vascular stenosis, or occlusion caused by platelet aggregation and thrombosis lead to acute cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis-related inflammation is mediated by proinflammatory cytokines, inflammatory signaling pathways, bioactive lipids, and adhesion molecules. This review discusses the effects of inflammation and the systemic inflammatory signaling pathway on atherosclerosis, the role of related signaling pathways in inflammation, the formation of atherosclerosis plaques, and the prospects of treating atherosclerosis by inhibiting inflammation.

SELP genetic polymorphisms may contribute to the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction: a meta-analysis

We conducted a meta-analysis of case-control studies to determine whether SELP genetic polymorphisms contribute to the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease (CHD) and myocardial infarction (MI). A range of electronic databases were searched: MEDLINE (1966-2013), the Cochrane Library Database (Issue 12, 2013), EMBASE (1980-2013), CINAHL (1982-2013), Web of Science (1945-2013) and the Chinese biomedical database (1982-2013) without language restrictions. Meta-analysis was performed with the use of the STATA statistical software. Nine case-control studies with a total of 3,154 CHD patients, 1,608 MI patients and 17,304 healthy controls were involved in this meta-analysis. Six common polymorphisms in the SELE gene were assessed, including -1969G/A (rs1800805 G>A), -1817T/C (rs1800808 T>C), -2123C/G (rs1800807 C>G), Thr715Pro (rs6136 A>C), Leu599Val (rs6133 G>T), and Ser290Asn (rs6131 C>T). Our findings illustrated significantly positive associations of SELE genetic polymorphisms with the development of CHD and MI. The results of subgroup analysis by SNP type indicated that -1969G/A, -1817T/C, -2123C/G, Thr715Pro and Ser290Asn in the SELP gene might be strongly correlated with CHD and MI risk, but no similar results were found in SELP Leu599Val polymorphism. In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, our results indicated significant relationships between SELE genetic polymorphisms and the pathogenesis of CHD and MI among Asians and Caucasians. However, we observed no significant associations between SELP genetic polymorphisms and the risk of CHD and MI among Africans. Our findings provide empirical evidence that SELE genetic polymorphisms may contribute to the pathogenesis of CHD and MI, especially among Asians and Caucasians. Thus, SELP genetic polymorphisms could be potential and practical biomarkers for early diagnosis of CHD and MI.