Pavel Vlad, Räth Ulrich, Schmid Stephan, Krautbauer Sabrina, Keller Dennis, Amend Pablo, Müller Martina, Mester Patricia, Buechler Christa
Department of Internal Medicine I, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Endocrinology, Rheumatology, and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
Biomedicines. 2024 May 9;12(5):1043. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines12051043.
Adiponectin is primarily known for its protective role in metabolic diseases, and it also possesses immunoregulatory properties. Elevated levels of adiponectin have been observed in various inflammatory diseases. However, studies investigating adiponectin levels in the serum of COVID-19 patients have yielded conflicting results. This study aimed to assess serum adiponectin levels in 26 healthy controls, as well as in 64 patients with moderate and 60 patients with severe COVID-19, to determine a potential association between serum adiponectin and the severity of COVID-19. Serum adiponectin levels in severe COVID-19 patients were significantly lower than in those with moderate disease and healthy controls, who exhibited similar serum adiponectin levels. Among patients with moderate disease, positive correlations were observed between serum adiponectin and C-reactive protein levels. Of note, serum adiponectin levels of severe COVID-19 cases were comparable between patients with and without dialysis or vasopressor therapy. Superinfection with bacteria did not exert a notable influence on serum adiponectin levels in patients with severe disease. Patients who were diagnosed with severe COVID-19 and vancomycin-resistant enterococci bacteremia showed a significant reduction in their serum adiponectin levels. An analysis conducted on the entire cohort, including both moderate and severe COVID-19 patients, showed that individuals who did not survive had lower serum adiponectin levels when compared to those who survived. In summary, this study highlights a decrease in serum adiponectin levels in severe COVID-19 cases, indicating the potential utility of adiponectin as an additional biomarker for monitoring disease severity in COVID-19 or critical illnesses in general.
脂联素主要因其在代谢性疾病中的保护作用而闻名，它还具有免疫调节特性。在各种炎症性疾病中都观察到脂联素水平升高。然而，关于新冠病毒疾病（COVID-19）患者血清中脂联素水平的研究结果相互矛盾。本研究旨在评估26名健康对照者、64名中度COVID-19患者和60名重度COVID-19患者的血清脂联素水平，以确定血清脂联素与COVID-19严重程度之间的潜在关联。重度COVID-19患者的血清脂联素水平显著低于中度疾病患者和健康对照者，而后两者的血清脂联素水平相似。在中度疾病患者中，观察到血清脂联素与C反应蛋白水平之间存在正相关。值得注意的是，接受透析或血管加压药治疗和未接受这些治疗的重度COVID-19病例的血清脂联素水平相当。细菌二重感染对重症患者的血清脂联素水平没有显著影响。被诊断为重度COVID-19且患有耐万古霉素肠球菌菌血症的患者血清脂联素水平显著降低。对包括中度和重度COVID-19患者在内的整个队列进行的分析表明，与存活患者相比，未存活患者的血清脂联素水平较低。总之，本研究强调重度COVID-19病例的血清脂联素水平降低，表明脂联素作为监测COVID-19或一般危重症疾病严重程度的额外生物标志物具有潜在效用。
