OC 29.3 - CD147 plasma levels in hospitalised patients with Covid-19 pneumonia predict illness severity and in-hospital mortality

Background: CD147 receptor is one of several receptors for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that mediate viral infection of host cells. A soluble by-product of CD147 exists in plasma and has been previously identified as a marker of diabetes or platelet activation.

Aims: The objective of the present study was to assess CD147 involvement in COVID-19 by measuring its level in plasma at hospital admission and explore its predictive value on in‐hospital mortality in a large cohort of 161 adult COVID‐19–positive patients.

Methods: Objective of this study was to assess sCD147 involvement in COVID-19 by measuring its level in plasma of 161 adults at hospital admission and explore its predictive value on in‐hospital mortality.

Results: We demonstrated here an increased plasma sCD147 level in Covid-19 patients (median 15183 pg/mL, IQR [12232-18614]) compared with healthy volunteers (10140 pg/mL, [8748-11763], p < 0.001). Importantly, plasma sCD147 levels were associated with COVID-19 severity, with the critical care group demonstrating significantly higher levels than the non-critical-care group (17263 pg/mL [13103-21536] vs 14277pg/mL [12027-17036] respectively, p=0.008). sCD147 levels in the non-critical care group were significantly higher than in healthy volunteers (p < 001). It is of great interest to note the significantly increased sCD147 levels in non-survivors (p=0.03). To explore the association between increased sCD147 levels and mortality, we performed Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and found sCD147 levels were predictive of 30-day in‐hospital mortality, (p=0.019). The ability of increased sCD147 levels at admission to predict in-hospital mortality was further validated in a Cox proportional hazard analysis adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index (Hazard ratio, HR 3.61, 95% CI 1.36-9.61, p = 0.010).

Conclusion(s): This study is the first to examine sCD147 levels in a cohort of Covid-19 patients across a range of disease severities and support its further evaluation as a promising new therapeutic target to treat acute COVID‐19 infection.