%A Acevedo,Nathalie %A Escamilla-Gil,Jose Miguel %A Espinoza,Héctor %A Regino,Ronald %A Ramírez,Jonathan %A Florez de Arco,Lucila %A Dennis,Rodolfo %A Torres-Duque,Carlos A. %A Caraballo,Luis %D 2021 %J Frontiers in Immunology %C %F %G English %K Asthma,Chemokines,COPD - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,CXCL9,(C-X-C motif) ligand 9,HGF = hepatocyte growth factor,IL-6 (Interleukin 6),Severe COVID-19,Plasma proteomics %Q %R 10.3389/fimmu.2021.678661 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2021-July-15 %9 Original Research %+ Nathalie Acevedo,Institute for Immunological Research, University of Cartagena,Colombia,nacevedoc@unicartagena.edu.co %# %! inflammatory mediators in COPD and COVID-19 %* %< %T Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients Have Increased Levels of Plasma Inflammatory Mediators Reported Upregulated in Severe COVID-19 %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.678661 %V 12 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 1664-3224 %X BackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with increased risk of severe COVID-19, but the mechanisms are unclear. Besides, patients with severe COVID-19 have been reported to have increased levels of several immune mediators.MethodsNinety-two proteins were quantified in 315 plasma samples from 118 asthmatics, 99 COPD patients and 98 healthy controls (age 40-90 years), who were recruited in Colombia before the COVID-19 pandemic. Protein levels were compared between each disease group and healthy controls. Significant proteins were compared to the gene signatures of SARS-CoV-2 infection reported in the “COVID-19 Drug and Gene Set Library” and with experimentally tested protein biomarkers of severe COVID-19.ResultsForty-one plasma proteins showed differences between patients and controls. Asthmatic patients have increased levels in IL-6 while COPD patients have a broader systemic inflammatory dysregulation driven by HGF, OPG, and several chemokines (CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, CX3CL1, CXCL1, MCP-3, MCP-4, CCL3, CCL4 and CCL11). These proteins are involved in chemokine signaling pathways related with response to viral infections and some, were found up-regulated upon SARS-CoV-2 experimental infection of Calu-3 cells as reported in the COVID-19 Related Gene Sets database. An increase of HPG, CXCL9, CXCL10, IL-6, MCP-3, TNF and EN-RAGE has also been experimentally detected in patients with severe COVID-19.ConclusionsCOPD patients have altered levels of plasma proteins that have been reported increased in patients with severe COVID-19. Our study suggests that COPD patients have a systemic dysregulation in chemokine networks (including HGF and CXCL9) that could make them more susceptible to severe COVID-19. Also, that IL-6 levels are increased in some asthmatic patients (especially in females) and this may influence their response to COVID-19. The findings in this study depict a novel panel of inflammatory plasma proteins in COPD patients that may potentially associate with increased susceptibility to severe COVID-19 and might be useful as a biomarker signature after future experimental validation.