Interferon- gamma-induced protein-10 (IP-10)/ CXCL10 Serum Level and Natural Killer Cell Count as Predictive Factors for the Severity of COVID-19

Abstract

oronavirus is a common pathogen that mostly affects the respiratory system of humans. The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV are two previous coronavirus (CoV) outbreaks and recently, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in the major global pandemic of COVID 19. SARS-CoV-2 have been the focus of many studies since its emergence that have shown that the cytokine storm play a major role in the pathogenesis of this virus. However data on the role of chemokine interferon γ-induced protein 10 (IP-10) /CXCL10 in the severity of COVID 19 are very limited. This study aimed to correlate the levels of serum IP-10 to the severity of the disease and to determine if NK cell depletion correlates inversely with IP-10 in COVID 19 patients which suggest a potential role for IP 10 in recruitment of NK cells to `the airway epithelium contributing to the pathologic effect seen in severely ill patients. An observational cross-sectional study was conducted on 30 COVID 19 patients attending Geriatric department of Ain Shams university Hospital, divided into 2 groups: group I included 15 moderate cases and group II included 15 severe and critical cases.