Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emergent viral disease in which the host inflammatory response modulates the clinical outcome. Severe outcomes are associated with an exacerbation of inflammation in which chemokines play an important role as the attractants of immune cells to the tissues.
Objective: To evaluate the relationship of the chemokines IL-8, RANTES, MIG, MCP-1, and IP-10 with COVID-19 severity and outcomes in Mexican patients.
Methods: We analyzed the serum levels of IL-8, RANTES, MIG, MCP-1 and IP-10 in 148 COVID-19 hospitalized patients classified as mild (n=20), severe (n=61), and critical (n=67), as well as in healthy individuals (n=10), by flow cytometry bead array assay.
Results: Chemokine levels were higher in patients than in the healthy individuals, but only MIG, MCP-1, and IP-10 increased according to the disease severity, showing the highest levels in the critical group. MIG, MCP-1, and IP-10 levels were also higher in COVID-19 patients with comorbidities such as renal disease, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension. Moreover, elevated MIG levels seem to be related to organic failure/shock, and an increased risk of death.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that the increased levels of MCP-1, IP-10, and especially MIG might be useful in predicting severe COVID-19 outcomes and could be promising therapeutic targets.
Keywords: Chemokine; COVID-19; IP-10; MCP-1; MIG.