Abstract
Inflammation is a tightly coordinated response against bacterial and viral infections, triggered by the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. SARS-CoV-2 infection induces COVID-19 disease, characterized with an inflammatory response mediated by the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome resulting with the production of IL-1β and IL-18 together with pyroptotic cell death. Severe inflammation in the lungs of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals associate with pneumonia, hypoxia and acute respiratory distress syndrome, being the cause of the deaths associated to COVID-19. Here we found that together with the increase of IL-6, IL-18 and the IL-1 receptor antagonist in the plasma of COVID-19 patients, the purinergic P2X7 receptor was also elevated. Increase of COVID-19 disease severity and C-reactive protein concentration positively correlated with increased concentration of the P2X7 receptor in the plasma, but not with IL-18 cytokine. P2X7 receptor was found in the supernatant of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells after inflammasome activation, suggesting that P2X7 receptor determination in the plasma could be a novel biomarker of COVID-19 disease severity.
Competing Interest Statement
LH-N, LM-A, DA-B, AB-M and PP are co-founders of Viva in vitro diagnostics SL, but declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The other authors declare no competing interests.
