Abstract
Background: COVID-19 patients experience several features of dysregulated immune system observed in sepsis. We previously showed a dysregulation of several proline-selective peptidases such as dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4), fibroblast activation protein alpha (FAP), prolyl oligopeptidase (PREP) and prolylcarboxypeptidase (PRCP) in sepsis. In this study, we investigated whether these peptidases are similarly dysregulated in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Methods: Fifty-six hospitalized COVID-19 patients and 32 healthy controls were included. Enzymatic activities of DPP4, FAP, PREP and PRCP were measured in samples collected shortly after hospital admission and in longitudinal follow-up samples.
Results: Compared to healthy controls, both DPP4 and FAP activities were significantly lower in COVID-19 patients at hospital admission and FAP activity further decreased significantly in the first week of hospitalization. While PRCP activity remained unchanged, PREP activity was significantly increased in COVID-19 patients at hospitalization and further increased during hospital stay and stayed elevated until the day of discharge.
Conclusion: The changes in activities of proline-selective peptidases in plasma are very similar in COVID-19 and septic shock patients. The pronounced decrease in FAP activity deserves further investigation, both from a pathophysiological viewpoint and as its utility as a part of a biomarker panel.
Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Dipeptidyl peptidase 4; Fibroblast activation protein alpha; Prolyl oligopeptidase; Prolylcarboxypeptidase.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus, Dipeptidyl peptidase 4, Fibroblast activation protein alpha, Prolyl oligopeptidase, Prolylcarboxypeptidase., 【초록키워드】 Biomarker, Hospitalization, Sepsis, immune system, discharge, DPP4, Dipeptidyl peptidase 4, activity, Protein, PrEP, Septic shock, Alpha, plasma, Hospital admission, Follow-up, utility, patients, COVID-19 patients, hospitalized COVID-19 patient, COVID-19 patient, Hospital stay, dysregulation, Activation, hospitalized COVID-19 patients, healthy control, activities, peptidase, proline, healthy controls, dipeptidyl peptidase, while, significantly lower, fibroblast, feature, decrease, PRCP, significantly increased, collected, significantly, investigated, remained, elevated, changes in, dysregulated, were measured, FAP, pathophysiological, 【제목키워드】 activity, hospitalized COVID-19 patient, FAP,