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. 2022 Aug 15:439:120324.
doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2022.120324. Epub 2022 Jun 17.

Plasma biomarkers of brain injury in COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms

B E Sahin  1 , A Celikbilek  2 , Y Kocak  2 , G T Saltoglu  3 , N M Konar  4 , L Hizmali  5
Affiliations

Plasma biomarkers of brain injury in COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms

B E Sahin et al. J Neurol Sci. .

Abstract

Objective: Neurological symptoms (NS) were often reported in COVID-19 infection. We examined the plasma levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and S100B together, as brain injury biomarkers, in relation to persistent NS in a cohort of patients with COVID-19 during the acute phase of the disease.

Methods: A total of 20 healthy controls and 58 patients with confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled in this prospective study. Serum GFAP and S100B levels were measured by using enzymle linked immunoassay method from blood samples.

Results: Serum GFAP levels were found to be significantly higher in the severe group than in the controls (p = 0.007). However, serum S100B levels were similar between control and disease groups (p > 0.05). No significant results for GFAP and S100B were obtained between the disease groups depending on whether the sampling time was below or above 5 days (p > 0.05). We did not find a correlation between serum GFAP and S100B levels and the presence of NS (p > 0.05). However, serum S100B levels were slightly higher in patients with multiple NS than in those with a single symptom (p = 0.044).

Conclusions: Elevated GFAP was associated with disease severity but not with NS in COVID-19 patients. Whereas, high serum S100B was associated with the multipl NS in these patients. Our data suggest that GFAP and S100B may be of limited value currently in order to represent the neuronal damage, though serving a basis for the future work.

Keywords: Brain injury; COVID-19; GFAP; Neurological symptoms; S100B; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Box-plot for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) between the groups.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Receiving operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for GFAP.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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