Evaluation of IGFBP5 expression and plasma osteopontin level in COVID-19 patients

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate insulin-like growth factor binding protein 5 (IGFBP5) expression in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients and its relationships with COVID-19 laboratory findings and plasma osteopontin (OPN) levels. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We enrolled 60 patients with COVID-19 and 30 healthy individuals in this study. mRNA expression of IGFBP5 was measured by RT-PCR. Plasma OPN levels were measured via the ELISA method. RESULTS: Plasma OPN levels were higher and IGFBP5 expression levels were lower in COVID-19 patients than in the healthy individuals (p ​= ​0.0057 and p ​= ​0.0142, respectively). Critically ill patients had higher OPN and lower IGFBP5 than non-critically ill patients. Patients with affected lungs demonstrated increased OPN and decreased IGFBP5 (p ​= ​0.00032 and p ​= ​0.044, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis indicated that IGFBP5 expression and OPN levels can be used discriminate non-critically from critically ill patients (p ​= ​0.049; p ​= ​0.0016, respectively). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that patients with a poor prognosis had increased OPN and decreased IGFBP5. High values of OPN and low values of IGFBP5 may be considered as signs of disease severity. Tissue-specific IGFBP5 expression may contribute to understanding the role of IGFBP5 in the lungs in COVID-19 cases.