Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is a persistent global pandemic with a very heterogeneous disease presentation ranging from a mild disease to dismal prognosis. Early detection of sensitivity and severity of COVID-19 is essential for the development of new treatments. In the present study, we measured the levels of circulating growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in plasma of severity-stratified COVID-19 patients and uninfected control patients and characterized the in vitro effects and cohort frequency of ACE2 SNPs. Our results show that while circulating GDF15 and ACE2 stratify COVID-19 patients according to disease severity, ACE2 missense SNPs constitute a risk factor linked to infection susceptibility.
Keywords: ACE2; COVID-19; GDF5; inflammation; mutations.
Copyright © 2022 Torrens-Mas, Perelló-Reus, Trias-Ferrer, Ibargüen-González, Crespí, Galmes-Panades, Navas-Enamorado, Sanchez-Polo, Piérola-Lopetegui, Masmiquel, Crespi, Barcelo and Gonzalez-Freire.