Biomarker can help assess the severity of COVID-19, COPD, asthma

charts showing the relationship between the plasma concentration of IL-26 and severity of COVID-19.
Relationship between the plasma concentration of IL-26 and severity of COVID-19.
Frontiers in Immunology (2024). DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1434186

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet and the University of Gothenburg, both in Sweden, have identified a biomarker that could become an important tool for assessing patients with acute COVID-19 infections.

In research published in Frontiers in Immunology, the researchers studied interleukin 26 (IL-26), which has been shown to reflect the severity of the disease, the viral load and the need for hospital care.

Professor Anders Linden, PhD, senior physician at the Karolinska Severe COPD Center at Karolinska University Hospital, said the study confirms the link between acute COVID-19 and IL-26 that had been previously demonstrated in a smaller group of patients.

“By now examining a large and well-characterized group of patients, we have been able to show that IL-26 has the potential to become an easily accessible biomarker for quickly assessing which patients are at risk of severe disease progression — especially patients with COPD and asthma,” he said in a news release.

The result of the study showed that IL-26 levels are higher in male than in female patients, which may reflect that men are more vulnerable to infection. The levels were also higher in patients with COPD and asthma, two patient groups that are sensitive to COVID-19 infections.

The researchers said the discovery opens new ways to monitor and manage patients with acute COVID-19 in emergency care, which can help lead to faster and more personalized interventions.

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