Abstract
Objectives: Severe disease characterized by interstitial pneumonia may
develop in some cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Periostin has
been associated with many respiratory diseases. In this study, we aimed
to investigate whether periostin could be a useful new biomarker in the
follow-up and severity assessment of the disease in patients with
COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods: In the study, 32 patients followed up
during May–July 2020 due to COVID-19 and 24 healthy controls were
included. The patients were divided into two groups, namely,
mild/moderate and severe, according to the severity of the disease.
Serum periostin and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) levels were
tested using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method using
commercially available ELISA kits. Results: It was observed that the
periostin level was significantly higher in both mild/moderate cases and
severe cases compared to the control group at first presentation.
However, TGF-β levels at first presentation were similar between the
groups. Conclusions: Our study is the first study to investigate
periostin levels in patients with COVID-19, and we believe that
periostin can be used as a new biomarker. Keywords: COVID-19, Periostin,
TGF-β, Pneumonia, New Biomarker Coronaviruses are among the main
pathogens that mainly target the human respiratory system. Severe
disease characterized by interstitial pneumonia develops in 10-20% of
patients. Periostin has recently been shown to be an indicator of
disease progression in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and asthma. In this
study, we aimed to investigate whether periostin could be a useful new
biomarker in the follow-up and severity assessment of the disease in
patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. This article demonstrated that
periostin is a useful new biomarker for disease follow-up and severity
in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. It is also the first study on
periostin levels in patients with COVID-19