COVID19 biomarkers: What did we learn from systematic reviews?

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic continues to represent a substantial public health concern. It can rapidly progress to severe disease, with poor prognosis and a high mortality risk. An early diagnosis and specific prognostic tools can help healthcare providers to start interventions promptly, understand the likely prognosis and to identify and treat timely individuals likely to develop severe disease with enhanced mortality risk. Here we focused on an impressive set of systematic reviews and meta-analyses that were performed since the start of the COVID19 pandemic and summarized their results related to the levels of hematologic, inflammatory, immunologic biomarkers as well as markers of cardiac, respiratory, hepatic, gastrointestinal and renal systems and their association with the disease progression, severity and mortality. The evidence outlines the significance of specific biomarkers, including inflammatory and immunological parameters (C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, interleukin-6), hematological (lymphocytes count, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, D-dimer, ferritin, red blood cell distribution width), cardiac (troponin, CK-MB, myoglobin), liver (AST, ALT, total bilirubin, albumin) and lung injury (Krebs von den Lungen-6) that can be used as prognostic biomarkers to aid the identification of high-risk patients and the prediction of serious outcomes, including mortality, in COVID19. Thus, these parameters should be used as essential tools for an early risk stratification and adequate intervention in improving disease outcomes in COVID19 patients.

Advances in research on biomarkers associated with acute myocardial infarction: A review

“…Elevated cTn levels are observed in various cardiac and non-cardiac conditions beyond the diagnosis of AMI. These conditions include heart failure (HF), various forms of myocarditis, outcomes of catheter ablation, coronary revascularization procedures, pulmonary hypertension, stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, pulmonary embolism, subarachnoid hemorrhage, conditions affecting critically ill patients, chronic diseases, adverse reactions to chemotherapy, and physiological responses to strenuous exercise [21–42] (Table 1). Therefore, novel early biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity are urgently required to further reduce the mortality associated with AMI.…”

Extracellular Vesicle-Based SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine

“…D-dimer levels increase with COVID-19 infection; thus, they represent a useful marker of aggravation [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ]. D-dimer is a fibrin breakdown product formed by blood clotting.…”

Algorithms for predicting COVID outcome using ready-to-use laboratorial and clinical data

“…Currently, there is no definite tool to predict mortality by COVID-19, although several biomarkers have been proposed for such purpose ( 4 ). Tests such as blood count, creatine kinase (CK), D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), C-reactive protein (CRP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), ferritin, prothrombin, glycemia, ferritin, cardiac biomarkers (troponin, CK-MB, Pro-BNP), 25 OH-Vitamin D, ions (Na/ K/Ca/Mg) and others should be taken into consideration in the diagnosis ( 5 ).…”