Annexin-V positive extracellular vesicles level is increased in severe COVID-19 disease

Valentine Jacob; Alexis Lambour; Benjamin Swinyard; Yoann Zerbib; Momar Diouf; Simon Soudet; Etienne Brochot; Isabelle Six; Julien Maizel; Michel Slama; Nicolas Guillaume

doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1186122

Annexin-V positive extracellular vesicles level is increased in severe COVID-19 disease

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Jun 2:10:1186122. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1186122. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Valentine Jacob^{1

2}, Alexis Lambour³, Benjamin Swinyard³, Yoann Zerbib³, Momar Diouf⁴, Simon Soudet⁵, Etienne Brochot^{1

6}, Isabelle Six⁷, Julien Maizel^{3

7}, Michel Slama^{3

7}, Nicolas Guillaume^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Human Biology Center, Amiens University Medical Center, Amiens, France.
² EA HEMATIM 4666, Jules Verne University of Picardie, Amiens, France.
³ Department of Medical Intensive Care Unit, Amiens University Medical Center, Amiens, France.
⁴ Department of Statistics, Amiens University Medical Center, Amiens, France.
⁵ Department of Vascular Medicine, Amiens University Medical Center, Amiens, France.
⁶ AGIR Research Unit, Jules Verne University of Picardie, Amiens, France.
⁷ UR 7517 UPJV, Pathophysiological Mechanisms and Consequences of Cardiovascular Calcifications (MP3CV), Jules Verne University of Picardie, Amiens, France.

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate extracellular vesicles levels in a cohort of SARS-CoV-2's patients hospitalized in an intensive care unit with and without COVID-19 associated thromboembolic events.

Methods: In this study, we aim to assess endothelial and platelet membrane-derived extracellular vesicles levels in a cohort of SARS-CoV-2 patients with and without COVID-19-associated thromboembolic events who were hospitalized in an intensive care unit. Annexin-V positive extracellular vesicles levels were prospectively assessed by flow cytometry in one hundred twenty-three critically ill adults diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with a SARS-CoV-2 infection, ten adults diagnosed for moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection and 25 healthy volunteers.

Results: On our critically ill patients, thirty-four patients (27.6%) had a thromboembolic event, Fifty-three (43%) died. Endothelial and platelet membrane-derived extracellular vesicles were drastically increased in SARS-CoV-2 patients hospitalized in the ICU compared to healthy volunteers. Moreover a slighty higher small/large ratio for platelets membrane-derived extracellular vesicles in patients was linked to thrombo-embolic events.

Conclusion: A comparison between total annexin-V positive extracellular vesicles levels in severe and moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection and healthy controls showed a significant increase in patients with severe infection and their sizes could be considered as biomarkers of SARS-CoV-2 associated thrombo-embolic events.

Keywords: COVID-19; extracellular vesicles; intensive care unit; microparticles; thrombosis.