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. 2023 Jun 2:10:1186122.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1186122. eCollection 2023.

Annexin-V positive extracellular vesicles level is increased in severe COVID-19 disease

Valentine Jacob  1   2 , Alexis Lambour  3 , Benjamin Swinyard  3 , Yoann Zerbib  3 , Momar Diouf  4 , Simon Soudet  5 , Etienne Brochot  1   6 , Isabelle Six  7 , Julien Maizel  3   7 , Michel Slama  3   7 , Nicolas Guillaume  1   2
Affiliations

Annexin-V positive extracellular vesicles level is increased in severe COVID-19 disease

Valentine Jacob et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate extracellular vesicles levels in a cohort of SARS-CoV-2's patients hospitalized in an intensive care unit with and without COVID-19 associated thromboembolic events.

Methods: In this study, we aim to assess endothelial and platelet membrane-derived extracellular vesicles levels in a cohort of SARS-CoV-2 patients with and without COVID-19-associated thromboembolic events who were hospitalized in an intensive care unit. Annexin-V positive extracellular vesicles levels were prospectively assessed by flow cytometry in one hundred twenty-three critically ill adults diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with a SARS-CoV-2 infection, ten adults diagnosed for moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection and 25 healthy volunteers.

Results: On our critically ill patients, thirty-four patients (27.6%) had a thromboembolic event, Fifty-three (43%) died. Endothelial and platelet membrane-derived extracellular vesicles were drastically increased in SARS-CoV-2 patients hospitalized in the ICU compared to healthy volunteers. Moreover a slighty higher small/large ratio for platelets membrane-derived extracellular vesicles in patients was linked to thrombo-embolic events.

Conclusion: A comparison between total annexin-V positive extracellular vesicles levels in severe and moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection and healthy controls showed a significant increase in patients with severe infection and their sizes could be considered as biomarkers of SARS-CoV-2 associated thrombo-embolic events.

Keywords: COVID-19; extracellular vesicles; intensive care unit; microparticles; thrombosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Annexin-V positive EV levels in healthy controls and COVID-19 patients. Plasma levels (/μL) of annexin-V positive EVs in healthy controls compared to moderate and severe COVID-19 disease. For severe disease, three measure points are performed: Day 1 to Day 6, Day 7 to Day 13, and Day 14 to Day 20, the duration of the ICU stay.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Annexin-V positive EV levels in healthy controls and COVID-19 patients. Plasma levels (/μL) of annexin-V positive endothelial and platelet membrane-derived EVs in healthy controls compared to moderate and severe COVID-19 disease.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Follow-up of annexin-V positive EV levels (/μL) according to the thromboembolic event. For 6 patients, EV levels were assessed at Day 7 to Day 1 before and at Day 1 to Day 6 after the thromboembolic event. For 10 patients, EV levels were assessed at Day 1 to Day 6 and at Day 7 to Day 14 after the thromboembolic event.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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