Abnormal upregulation of cardiovascular disease biomarker PLA2G7 induced by proinflammatory macrophages in COVID-19 patients

Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 24;11(1):6811. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85848-5.

Abstract

High rate of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been reported among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Importantly, CVD, as one of the comorbidities, could also increase the risks of the severity of COVID-19. Here we identified phospholipase A2 group VII (PLA2G7), a well-studied CVD biomarker, as a hub gene in COVID-19 though an integrated hypothesis-free genomic analysis on nasal swabs (n = 486) from patients with COVID-19. PLA2G7 was further found to be predominantly expressed by proinflammatory macrophages in lungs emerging with progression of COVID-19. In the validation stage, RNA level of PLA2G7 was identified in nasal swabs from both COVID-19 and pneumonia patients, other than health individuals. The positive rate of PLA2G7 were correlated with not only viral loads but also severity of pneumonia in non-COVID-19 patients. Serum protein levels of PLA2G7 were found to be elevated and beyond the normal limit in COVID-19 patients, especially among those re-positive patients. We identified and validated PLA2G7, a biomarker for CVD, was abnormally enhanced in COVID-19 at both nucleotide and protein aspects. These findings provided indications into the prevalence of cardiovascular involvements seen in patients with COVID-19. PLA2G7 could be a potential prognostic and therapeutic target in COVID-19.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • 1-Alkyl-2-acetylglycerophosphocholine Esterase / blood
  • 1-Alkyl-2-acetylglycerophosphocholine Esterase / genetics
  • 1-Alkyl-2-acetylglycerophosphocholine Esterase / metabolism*
  • Biomarkers / metabolism
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology
  • COVID-19 / immunology
  • COVID-19 / metabolism*
  • COVID-19 / pathology
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / epidemiology
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / metabolism*
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / virology
  • China / epidemiology
  • Data Mining / methods
  • Humans
  • Macrophages / immunology
  • Macrophages / metabolism*
  • Macrophages / pathology
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification
  • Transcriptional Activation
  • Up-Regulation

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • 1-Alkyl-2-acetylglycerophosphocholine Esterase
  • PLA2G7 protein, human