Pregnancy makes women more susceptible to infectious agents; however, available data on the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on pregnant women are limited. To date, inflammatory responses and changes in serum metal concentration have been reported in COVID-19 patients, but few associations between metal ions and cytokines have been described. The aim of this study was to evaluate correlations between inflammatory markers and serum metal ions in third-trimester pregnant women with varying COVID-19 disease severity. Patients with severe symptoms had increased concentrations of serum magnesium, copper, and calcium ions and decreased concentrations of iron, zinc, and sodium ions. Potassium ions were unaffected. Pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNF-α, IL-8, IL-1α, anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4, and the IP-10 chemokine were induced in the severe presentation of COVID-19 during pregnancy. Robust negative correlations between iron/magnesium and zinc/IL-6, and a positive correlation between copper/IP-10 were observed in pregnant women with the severe form of the disease. Thus, coordinated alterations of serum metal ions and inflammatory markers - suggestive of underlying pathophysiological interactions-occur during SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy.
Keywords: IL-6; SARS – CoV – 2; copper; placenta; zinc.
Copyright © 2022 Vásquez-Procopio, Espejel-Nuñez, Torres-Torres, Martinez-Portilla, Espino Y. Sosa, Mateu-Rogell, Ortega-Castillo, Tolentino-Dolores, Perichart-Perera, Franco-Gallardo, Carranco-Martínez, Prieto-Rodríguez, Guzmán-Huerta, Missirlis and Estrada-Gutierrez.