AUTHOR=Shojaei Maryam , Shamshirian Amir , Monkman James , Grice Laura , Tran Minh , Tan Chin Wee , Teo Siok Min , Rodrigues Rossi Gustavo , McCulloch Timothy R. , Nalos Marek , Raei Maedeh , Razavi Alireza , Ghasemian Roya , Gheibi Mobina , Roozbeh Fatemeh , Sly Peter D. , Spann Kirsten M. , Chew Keng Yih , Zhu Yanshan , Xia Yao , Wells Timothy J. , Senegaglia Alexandra Cristina , Kuniyoshi Carmen Lúcia , Franck Claudio Luciano , dos Santos Anna Flavia Ribeiro , Noronha Lucia de , Motamen Sepideh , Valadan Reza , Amjadi Omolbanin , Gogna Rajan , Madan Esha , Alizadeh-Navaei Reza , Lamperti Liliana , Zuñiga Felipe , Nova-Lamperti Estefania , Labarca Gonzalo , Knippenberg Ben , Herwanto Velma , Wang Ya , Phu Amy , Chew Tracy , Kwan Timothy , Kim Karan , Teoh Sally , Pelaia Tiana M. , Kuan Win Sen , Jee Yvette , Iredell Jon , O’Byrne Ken , Fraser John F. , Davis Melissa J. , Belz Gabrielle T. , Warkiani Majid E. , Gallo Carlos Salomon , Souza-Fonseca-Guimaraes Fernando , Nguyen Quan , Mclean Anthony , Kulasinghe Arutha , Short Kirsty R. , Tang Benjamin TITLE=IFI27 transcription is an early predictor for COVID-19 outcomes, a multi-cohort observational study JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1060438 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2022.1060438 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=Purpose

Robust biomarkers that predict disease outcomes amongst COVID-19 patients are necessary for both patient triage and resource prioritisation. Numerous candidate biomarkers have been proposed for COVID-19. However, at present, there is no consensus on the best diagnostic approach to predict outcomes in infected patients. Moreover, it is not clear whether such tools would apply to other potentially pandemic pathogens and therefore of use as stockpile for future pandemic preparedness.

Methods

We conducted a multi-cohort observational study to investigate the biology and the prognostic role of interferon alpha-inducible protein 27 (IFI27) in COVID-19 patients.

Results

We show that IFI27 is expressed in the respiratory tract of COVID-19 patients and elevated IFI27 expression in the lower respiratory tract is associated with the presence of a high viral load. We further demonstrate that the systemic host response, as measured by blood IFI27 expression, is associated with COVID-19 infection. For clinical outcome prediction (e.g., respiratory failure), IFI27 expression displays a high sensitivity (0.95) and specificity (0.83), outperforming other known predictors of COVID-19 outcomes. Furthermore, IFI27 is upregulated in the blood of infected patients in response to other respiratory viruses. For example, in the pandemic H1N1/09 influenza virus infection, IFI27-like genes were highly upregulated in the blood samples of severely infected patients.

Conclusion

These data suggest that prognostic biomarkers targeting the family of IFI27 genes could potentially supplement conventional diagnostic tools in future virus pandemics, independent of whether such pandemics are caused by a coronavirus, an influenza virus or another as yet-to-be discovered respiratory virus.