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CC BY 4.0 · Ibnosina Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1808245
Original Article

Association of Plasma Calprotectin Levels with Disease Severity in COVID-19 Patients

Suat Sincan
1   Department of Family Medicine, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Türkiye
,
Gülden Sincan 
2   Department of Hematology, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Türkiye
,
Ahmet Kızıltunç
3   Department of Medical Biochemistry, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Türkiye
› Institutsangaben Funding and Sponsorship This work was supported by the Department of Scientific Research Projects (BAP) of Ataturk University (Grant number: TAB-2022–11222).
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Abstract

Objectives

Inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Calprotectin, a protein released by inflammatory cells, is associated with this inflammatory response.

Materials and Methods

A prospective study was conducted on 30 patients with mild to moderate COVID-19, 30 patients with severe COVID-19, and 30 healthy controls. Calprotectin levels were analyzed with a commercially purchased Cloud Cloning Kit.

Results

Plasma calprotectin levels in COVID-19 patients (12.5 ± 8.8 ng/mL) were significantly greater than those in the controls (8.23 ± 2.99 ng/mL; p = 0.012). The calprotectin level in the mild to moderate COVID-19 group (9.85 ± 6.94 ng/mL) was significantly lower than that in the severe COVID-19 group (15.19 ± 9.87 ng/mL; p = 0.019). The recommended cutoff value for the calprotectin level was 7.45 ng/mL with 63.3% sensitivity and 53.3% specificity. Seventeen (28.3%) of the COVID-19 patients died due to COVID-19-related causes. The calprotectin level in the exiting patients (16.33 ± 7.65 ng/mL) was significantly greater than the calprotectin level in the living cases (11.01 ± 8.95 ng/mL; p = 0.035).

Conclusion

Calprotectin levels were greater in COVID-19 patients than in healthy controls and in more severe patients than in mild to moderate cases. Calprotectin levels may be used as a biomarker to predict severe COVID-19 cases.

Keywords

COVID-19 - calprotectin - prognosis - biomarker - severity

Authors' Contributions

All the authors contributed to collecting the data, writing the article, reviewing, and approving the final article.


Compliance with Ethical Principles

Approval for this study was obtained from the Atatürk University Faculty of Medicine Clinical Research Ethics Committee (Date: April 28, 2022, Decision no: 38).




Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
08. Mai 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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