Galectin-3 as a Potential Prognostic Biomarker for COVID-19 Disease: A Case-Control Study

Emre Karsli; Damla Anabarli Metin; Omer Canacik; Ramazan Sabirli; Buse Kaymaz; Ozgur Kurt; Aylin Koseler

doi:10.7759/cureus.28805

Galectin-3 as a Potential Prognostic Biomarker for COVID-19 Disease: A Case-Control Study

Cureus. 2022 Sep 5;14(9):e28805. doi: 10.7759/cureus.28805. eCollection 2022 Sep.

Authors

Emre Karsli¹, Damla Anabarli Metin², Omer Canacik³, Ramazan Sabirli⁴, Buse Kaymaz⁵, Ozgur Kurt⁶, Aylin Koseler⁷

Affiliations

¹ Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, İzmir Tınaztepe University, Izmir, TUR.
² Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Karabuk University, Karabuk, TUR.
³ Emergency Medicine, Sisli Memorial Hospital, Istanbul, TUR.
⁴ Emergency, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir Bakircay University, Izmir, TUR.
⁵ Medical Biotechnology, Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University School of Medicine, Institute of Health Sciences, Istanbul, TUR.
⁶ Microbiology, Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University School of Medicine, Istanbul, TUR.
⁷ Biophysics, Pamukkale University, Denizli, TUR.

Abstract

Background Recent studies have investigated the importance of Galetin-3 in inflammation, fibrosis, cell proliferation, cardiac disease, diabetes, and tumor formation. Aims This study aims to investigate the role of the Galectin-3 level in the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia and the value of the Galectin-3 level in predicting the clinical course of the patient. Methods This study employed a prospective, case-control study design and was conducted at Bakircay University Ciğli Training and Research Hospital. A total of 100 patients (40 had moderate and 60 had severe/critical COVID-19 disease according to World Health Organisation guidelines) and 50 non-symptomatic healthy volunteers participated in the study. Blood samples were taken from patients at the time of hospital admission, after which serum was isolated. Following the isolation of serum, Galectin-3 levels were evaluated using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Results The serum Galectin-3 level was measured as 13.57 (10.9-16.4) ng/mL in the control group, 13.52 (10.69-16.6) ng/mL in the moderate disease group, and 11.65 (6.09-14.33) ng/mL in the severe/critical disease group. Serum Galectin-3 levels were significantly lower in the severe/critical disease group compared to the control and moderate disease groups (p=0.001 and p=0.019, respectively). Using ROC analysis, a larger area under the curve (AUC) for the serum Galectin-3 levels of the control group (AUC=0.622, 95% CI =0.529-0.714; p=0.015) was calculated compared to the COVID-19 patient group for the diagnosis of COVID-19 disease. The Galectin-3 level was found to be 75% sensitive and 50% specific at a cut-off level of 11.3 ng/mL in predicting the need for ICU treatment. Conclusion Galectin-3 levels may be a beneficial biomarker in predicting the clinical severity of COVID-19 disease when used in conjunction with other known biomarkers, at the time of admission to the emergency department (ED).

Keywords: clinical infectious disease; covid-19; covid-19 pneumonia; galectin-3; inflamation.