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. 2022 Jan;247(2):145-151.
doi: 10.1177/15353702211046835. Epub 2021 Sep 26.

Osteopontin as a biomarker for COVID-19 severity and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children: A pilot study

Andrew Reisner  1   2   3 , Laura S Blackwell  3 , Iqbal Sayeed  4 , Hannah E Myers  3 , Bushra Wali  4 , Stacy Heilman  1 , Janet Figueroa  1 , Austin Lu  5   6 , Laila Hussaini  5   6 , Evan J Anderson  5   7   6 , Andi L Shane  5   6 , Christina A Rostad  5   6
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Osteopontin as a biomarker for COVID-19 severity and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children: A pilot study

Andrew Reisner et al. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2022 Jan.

Abstract

This study sought to evaluate the candidacy of plasma osteopontin (OPN) as a biomarker of COVID-19 severity and multisystem inflammatory condition in children (MIS-C) in children. A retrospective analysis of 26 children (0-21 years of age) admitted to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta with a diagnosis of COVID-19 between March 17 and May 26, 2020 was undertaken. The patients were classified into three categories based on COVID-19 severity levels: asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic (control population, admitted for other non-COVID-19 conditions), mild/moderate, and severe COVID-19. A fourth category of children met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's case definition for MIS-C. Residual blood samples were analyzed for OPN, a marker of inflammation using commercial ELISA kits (R&D), and results were correlated with clinical data. This study demonstrates that OPN levels are significantly elevated in children hospitalized with moderate and severe COVID-19 and MIS-C compared to OPN levels in mild/asymptomatic children. Further, OPN differentiated among clinical levels of severity in COVID-19, while other inflammatory markers including maximum erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein and ferritin, minimum lymphocyte and platelet counts, soluble interleukin-2R, and interleukin-6 did not. We conclude OPN is a potential biomarker of COVID-19 severity and MIS-C in children that may have future clinical utility. The specificity and positive predictive value of this marker for COVID-19 and MIS-C are areas for future larger prospective research studies.

Keywords: COVID-19; MIS-C; SARS-CoV-2; biomarker; osteopontin; pediatrics.

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Conflict of interest statement

DECLARATION OF CONFLICTING INTERESTS: The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Evan J Anderson (EJA) has received personal fees from AbbVie, Pfizer, Janssen, and Sanofi Pasteur for consulting, and his institution receives funds to conduct clinical research unrelated to this manuscript from MedImmune, Regeneron, PaxVax, Pfizer, GSK, Merck, Novavax, Sanofi-Pasteur, Janssen, and Micron. He also serves on a safety monitoring board for Sanofi-Pasteur and Kentucky BioProcessing, Inc.

Christina A Rostad (CAR)’s institution has received funds to conduct clinical research unrelated to this manuscript from the National Institutes of Health, BioFire Inc, GSK, MedImmune, Micron, Janssen, Merck, Moderna, Novavax, PaxVax, Pfizer, Regeneron, and Sanofi-Pasteur. She is co-inventor of patented RSV vaccine technology unrelated to this manuscript, which has been licensed to Meissa Vaccines, Inc.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Osteopontin levels by disease severity. The boxes represent the interquartile range (IQR). The whiskers represent the data that extends above and below the interquartile ranges (i.e. 75th percentile +1.5 (IQR) upper whiskers, 25th percentile –1.5 (IQR) lower whiskers). Bold line represents median values. Circle represents value outlier.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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