iScience (Jul 2021)

CD177, a specific marker of neutrophil activation, is associated with coronavirus disease 2019 severity and death

  • Yves Lévy,
  • Aurélie Wiedemann,
  • Boris P. Hejblum,
  • Mélany Durand,
  • Cécile Lefebvre,
  • Mathieu Surénaud,
  • Christine Lacabaratz,
  • Matthieu Perreau,
  • Emile Foucat,
  • Marie Déchenaud,
  • Pascaline Tisserand,
  • Fabiola Blengio,
  • Benjamin Hivert,
  • Marine Gauthier,
  • Minerva Cervantes-Gonzalez,
  • Delphine Bachelet,
  • Cédric Laouénan,
  • Lila Bouadma,
  • Jean-François Timsit,
  • Yazdan Yazdanpanah,
  • Giuseppe Pantaleo,
  • Hakim Hocini,
  • Rodolphe Thiébaut

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 7
p. 102711

Abstract

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Summary: The identification of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 and high risk of severe disease is a challenge in routine care. We performed cell phenotypic, serum, and RNA sequencing gene expression analyses in severe hospitalized patients (n = 61). Relative to healthy donors, results showed abnormalities of 27 cell populations and an elevation of 42 cytokines, neutrophil chemo-attractants, and inflammatory components in patients. Supervised and unsupervised analyses revealed a high abundance of CD177, a specific neutrophil activation marker, contributing to the clustering of severe patients. Gene abundance correlated with high serum levels of CD177 in severe patients. Higher levels were confirmed in a second cohort and in intensive care unit (ICU) than non-ICU patients (P < 0.001). Longitudinal measurements discriminated between patients with the worst prognosis, leading to death, and those who recovered (P = 0.01). These results highlight neutrophil activation as a hallmark of severe disease and CD177 assessment as a reliable prognostic marker for routine care.

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