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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1463433

Serum Decorin and Biglycan Levels as Predictive Biomarkers for Lung Fibrosis Severity and Mortality Risk in COVID-19 Patients

Provisionally accepted
Shaaf Ahmad Shaaf Ahmad 1Kaleem Maqsood Kaleem Maqsood 2Farwa Liaqat Farwa Liaqat 2Nabila Roohi Nabila Roohi 2*
  • 1 King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 2 University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Individuals experiencing severe symptoms of COVID-19 are at the greatest risk of developing post-COVID lung fibrosis, which significantly impacts long-term health outcomes. This study aims to investigate the predictive potential of serum biomarkers, specifically decorin and biglycan, in assessing the severity and mortality risk among COVID-19 patients. For this study, healthy controls and COVID-19 patients (n=240) among them 186 with moderate and 54 with severe symptoms from Ittefaq Hospital and Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan were recruited satisfying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Patients were followed up for two months. Serum level of decorin and biglycan was evaluated by ELISA. One-way ANOVA and Independent sample "t"test were applied at significance level P<0.05 by using GraphPad Prism. Decorin levels significantly decreased from controls (43.36 ± 1.14 ng/ml) to moderate (40.24 ± 0.64 ng/ml) and severe COVID-19 patients (35.49 ± 1.00 ng/ml) (P=0.0059). biglycan levels increased from controls (66.15 ± 2.22 pg/ml) to moderate (70.02 ± 1.57 pg/ml) and severe patients (75.88 ± 1.97 pg/ml) (P=0.0042). In follow-up, survivors had higher decorin (39.6 ± 0.59 ng/ml) than nonsurvivors (35.84 ± 1.61 ng/ml) (P=0.0319). biglycan levels were similar between survivors (70.98 ± 1.41 pg/ml) and non-survivors (73.99 ± 3.24 pg/ml) (P=0.459). Higher decorin levels correlate with survival in COVID-19 patients. In conclusion, serum decorin and biglycan levels are valuable biomarkers for predicting severity and mortality in COVID-19 patients. Lower decorin and higher biglycan levels correlate with increased disease severity, emphasizing their potential to identify patients at risk for lung fibrosis and guide clinical management.

    Keywords: COVID-19, Decorin, Biglycan, proteoglycan, lung fibrosis

    Received: 11 Jul 2024; Accepted: 16 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ahmad, Maqsood, Liaqat and Roohi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nabila Roohi, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.