PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

Increased KL-6 levels in moderate to severe COVID-19 infection

  • Maureen Cambier,
  • Monique Henket,
  • Anne Noelle Frix,
  • Stéphanie Gofflot,
  • Marie Thys,
  • Sara Tomasetti,
  • Anna Peired,
  • Ingrid Struman,
  • Anne-Françoise Rousseau,
  • Benoît Misset,
  • Gilles Darcis,
  • Michel Moutschen,
  • Renaud Louis,
  • Makon-Sébastien Njock,
  • Etienne Cavalier,
  • Julien Guiot

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 11

Abstract

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Background The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented significant challenges and created concerns worldwide. Besides, patients who have experienced a SARS-CoV-2 infection could present post-viral complications that can ultimately lead to pulmonary fibrosis. Serum levels of Krebs von den Lungen 6 (KL-6), high molecular weight human MUC1 mucin, are increased in the most patients with various interstitial lung damage. Since its production is raised during epithelial damages, KL-6 could be a helpful non-invasive marker to monitor COVID-19 infection and predict post-infection sequelae. Methods We retrospectively evaluated KL-6 levels of 222 COVID-19 infected patients and 70 healthy control. Serum KL-6, fibrinogen, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), platelet-lymphocytes ratio (PLR) levels and other biological parameters were analyzed. This retrospective study also characterized the relationships between serum KL-6 levels and pulmonary function variables. Results Our results showed that serum KL-6 levels in COVID-19 patients were increased compared to healthy subjects (470 U/ml vs 254 U/ml, P 453.5 U/ml was associated with COVID-19 (AUC = 0.8415, P Conclusions KL-6 expression was correlated with several disease severity indicators. However, the association between mortality and long-term follow-up outcomes needs further investigation. More extensive trials are required to prove that KL-6 could be a marker of disease severity in COVID-19 infection.