Changes of serum IL‐10, IL‐1β, IL‐6, MCP‐1, TNF‐α, IP‐10 and IL‐4 in COVID‐19 patients

Lu, Qingqing; Zhu, Zhenhua; Tan, Chaochao; Zhou, Hui; Hu, Yan; Shen, Ge; Zhu, Pan; Yang, Gang; Xie, Xiaobing

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Studies have shown that some cytokines in COVID‐19 patients were elevated. This study aims to assess whether IL‐10, IL‐1β, IL‐6, MCP‐1, TNF‐α, IP‐10 and IL‐4 serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers of COVID‐19. METHODS: The above serum cytokines in COVID‐19 patients and non COVID‐19 patients were detected by ELISA, SARS‐CoV‐2 IgM and IgG were detected by chemiluminescence method. Independent‐samples Mann‐Whitney U‐test was utilized to compare cytokines levels in different groups and course, Levene T‐test, T’‐test were utilized to compare they in different genders, and Spearman Correlation test was utilized to analyze the correlation between the cytokines levels with ages, SARS‐CoV‐2 IgG and IgM. RESULTS: Serum levels of IL‐10, IL‐1β, MCP‐1, TNF‐α and IL‐4 in COVID‐19 patients were significantly higher than those in non‐COVID‐19 patients, while IL‐6 were only significantly higher than in healthy people, IP‐10 were significantly lower than in other diseases patients. AUCs of COVID‐19 diagnosed by IL‐10, IL‐1β, IL‐6, MCP‐1, TNF‐α, IP‐10 and IL‐4 were 0.735, 0.775, 0.595, 0.821, 0.848, 0.387 and 0.682, respectively. In COVID‐19 patients’ serum, the levels of IL‐10 and MCP‐1 of male had noticeably higher than those of female, and all cytokines were significantly positively correlated with age, IL‐1β and IL‐4 were significantly negatively correlated with SARS‐CoV‐2 IgM, while IL‐10, IL‐1β, IL‐6, TNF‐α and IP‐10 were significantly negatively correlated with SARS‐CoV‐2 IgG. IL‐10 on 43‐56 days were significantly lower than at 29‐42 days, TNF‐α at 15‐42 days were significantly higher than at 0‐14 days, IP‐10 at 0‐14 days were the highest, IL‐4 at 29‐42 days were significant higher than on 0‐14 days. CONCLUSIONS: The detection of IL‐10, IL‐1 β, IL‐6, MCP‐1, TNF‐α and IL‐4 would assist the clinical study of COVID‐19, and IP‐10 may be the cytokine `of early elevation in COVID‐19 patients.