Interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression of lung tissue in COVID-19 patient severity through core biopsy post mortem

INTRODUCTION: In COVID-19 patients, Interleukin-6 (IL-6) will increase, and the production of antigens will be excessive, which will cause excessive inflammation of the tissues, especially the respiratory tract, which causes fibrosis in the lungs and can lead to death. OBJECTIVE: To analyze IL-6 expression of lung tissue in COVID-19 patient severity. METHODS: The study is an observational analytic design from July to December 2020. COVID-19 patient severity who died was examined for IL-6 expression on lung tissue. The lung tissue sampling uses the core biopsy method. RESULTS: The total number of samples obtained was 38 samples. Characteristics of patients with a mean age of patients were 48 years, male, the most common chief complaint was shortness of breath, mean symptom onset was 5 days, patient length of stay was 10 days, the most common cause of death was a combination of septic shock and ARDS and the most common comorbid diabetes mellitus. There is an increased WBC, neutrophils, platelets, procalcitonin, CRP, BUN, creatinine serum, AST, ALT, and D-dimer. In this study, the average tissue IL-6 expression was 72.63, with the highest frequency of strong positive 47.4%. CONCLUSION: An increase in IL-6 expression on lung tissue showed the severity of COVID-19 infection.