Assessing of Interleukin-6 Gene Expression and Some Biomarkers in COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

The elevation in inflammatory cytokines suggests a cytokine storm could significantly contribute to COVID-19 pathogenesis. It was concluded that  Interleukin-6 playing a crucial role in the immune response with virus. Specimens were collected from 70 patients admitted to the ICUs of Medical City Hospital in Baghdad suspected of being infected with COVID-19, in addition to 35 healthy controls. Specimens were collected from both genders during the period from June 2022 to April 2023, with an age range of 15 to 80 years. The diagnosis of patients was so severe that 35 patients out of 70 showed severe infection, while the other 35 patients showed moderate infection. The IL-6 serum level was measured using the ELIZA assay, and the expression level of the IL-6 genes was measured using RT-PCR. Among 105 samples, the results of the IL-6 level showed a significant difference between the severe and moderate COVID-19 and control groups with IL-6 in a higher-level severe infection followed by moderate infection to control (263.71± 87.63a and 92.54± 27.47b vs. 27.16± 3.78c, respectively). The IL-6 gene expression level in the COVID-19 patients showed a significant difference between the COVID-19 with severe and moderate compared to healthy control IL-6 gene expression relations upon moderate and severe infection of SARS-CoV2 (10.66±6.12 and 5.19±2.72, respectively). A significant difference was also obtained for each IL-6, CRP, and D. dimer among the study groups. The patients with severe disease were high in all three biomarkers, and neutrophilia with lymphopenia, where it found the mean concentrations of them were 15.03 ± 9.61, 100.335±22.379 vs. 551.49±270.53, respectively, were higher in the patient’s group than in controls. The study found a significant positive correlation between IL-6, CRP, and D-dimer, while it showed a significant negative correlation between lymphocytes.

The elevation in inflammatory cytokines suggests a cytokine storm could significantly contribute to COVID-19 pathogenesis. It was concluded that  Interleukin-6 playing a crucial role in the immune response with virus. Specimens were collected from 70 patients admitted to the ICUs of Medical City Hospital in Baghdad suspected of being infected with COVID-19, in addition to 35 healthy controls. Specimens were collected from both genders during the period from June 2022 to April 2023, with an age range of 15 to 80 years. The diagnosis of patients was so severe that 35 patients out of 70 showed severe infection, while the other 35 patients showed moderate infection. The IL-6 serum level was measured using the ELIZA assay, and the expression level of the IL-6 genes was measured using RT-PCR. Among 105 samples, the results of the IL-6 level showed a significant difference between the severe and moderate COVID-19 and control groups with IL-6 in a higher-level severe infection followed by moderate infection to control (263.71± 87.63a and 92.54± 27.47b vs. 27.16± 3.78c, respectively). The IL-6 gene expression level in the COVID-19 patients showed a significant difference between the COVID-19 with severe and moderate compared to healthy control IL-6 gene expression relations upon moderate and severe infection of SARS-CoV2 (10.66±6.12 and 5.19±2.72, respectively). A significant difference was also obtained for each IL-6, CRP, and D. dimer among the study groups. The patients with severe disease were high in all three biomarkers, and neutrophilia with lymphopenia, where it found the mean concentrations of them were 15.03 ± 9.61, 100.335±22.379 vs. 551.49±270.53, respectively, were higher in the patient’s group than in controls. The study found a significant positive correlation between IL-6, CRP, and D-dimer, while it showed a significant negative correlation between lymphocytes.