Brief Research Report: Serum clara cell 16 kDa protein levels are increased in patients hospitalized for severe SARS-CoV-2 or sepsis infection.

Authors

Nathalie Rohmann, Paula Stürmer, Corinna Geisler, Kristina Schlicht, Katharina Hartmann, Kathrin Türk, Tim Hollstein, Florian Tran, Philip Rosenstiel, Andre Franke, Jan Heyckendorf, Stefan Schreiber, Dominik M Schulte, Matthias Laudes

Year of publication

2022

Journal

Front Immunol

Volume

13

Issue

-

ISSN

1664-3224

Impact factor

8.787

Abstract

Background

Clara cell 16 kDa protein (CC16) is a secretory protein primarily expressed in epithelial cells in the lungs. Previous studies show that CC16 exerts anti-inflammatory and immune-modulatory properties in both acute and chronic pulmonary diseases. However, despite the evidence of CC16’s high biomarker potential, evaluation of its role in infectious diseases is yet very limited.

Methods

Serum CC16 concentrations were measured by ELISA and assessed in two different types of severe infections. Using a case-control study design, patients treated for either severe SARS-CoV-2 or severe non-pulmonary sepsis infection were compared to age- and sex-matched healthy human subjects.

Results

Serum CC16 was significantly increased in both types of infection (SARS-CoV-2: 96.22 ± 129.01 ng/ml vs. healthy controls: 14.05 ± 7.48 ng/ml, p = 0.022; sepsis: 35.37 ± 28.10 ng/ml vs. healthy controls: 15.25 ± 7.51 ng/ml, p = 0.032) but there were no distinct differences between infections with and without pulmonary focus (p = 0.089). Furthermore, CC16 serum levels were positively correlated to disease duration and inversely to the platelet count in severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Conclusions

Increased CC16 serum levels in both SARS-CoV-2 and sepsis reinforce the high potential as a biomarker for epithelial cell damage and bronchoalveolar-blood barrier leakage in pulmonary as well as non-pulmonary infectious diseases.