Increased permeability, endogenous ethanol and systemic endotoxin concentrations reflect some GLA dysfunction in obesity and its hepatic complications. Pending further results to establish their potential causative roles, the modulation of the GLA appears to represent a possible target for the prevention and treatment of these conditions.
Background
Krebs von den Lungen 6 (KL-6) is a high-molecular-weight mucin-like glycoprotein, which is also known as MUC1. KL-6 is mainly produced by type 2 pneumocytes and bronchial epithelial cells, and, therefore, elevated circulating KL-6 levels may denote disorders of the alveolar epithelial lining.
The objective of this study is to verify if KL-6 serum level might support ICU physicians in predicting mortality, risk stratifying and triaging severe COVID-19 patients.
Methods
A retrospective cohort study, including all the COVID-19 patients who measured KL-6 serum values at least once during their ICU stay, was performed. The study sample, 122 patients, was divided in two groups, according to the median KL-6 value at ICU admission (median log-transformed KL-6 value: 6.73 U/ml; group A: KL-6 lower than the median and group B: KL-6 higher than the median).
Results
One-hundred twenty-two ICU patients were included in this study. Mortality was higher in group B than in group A (80 versus 46%; p < 0.001); both linear and logistic multivariate analyses showed ratio of arterial partial pressure of oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen (P/F) significantly and inversely related to KL-6 values.
Conclusion
At ICU admission, KL-6 serum level was significantly higher in the most hypoxic COVID-19 patients and independently associated with ICU mortality.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.