ABSTRACT: Abnormal inflammatory mediator concentrations during SARS-CoV-2 infection may represent disease severity. We aimed to assess plasma inflammatory mediator concentrations in patients with SARS-CoV-2 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In this study, 260 adults: 126 hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 sorted into severity groups: severe (n=68) and mild or moderate (n=58), and 134 healthy controls were enrolled. We quantified 39 plasma inflammatory mediators using multiplex ELISA. Spearman rank correlation and Mann-Whitney U test were used to identify mechanistically coupled inflammatory mediators and compare disease severity. Compared to healthy controls, patients with COVID-19 had significantly higher levels of interleukins 1α, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 15, C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion protein 1 (VCAM-1), IFN-γ-inducible protein-10 (IP-10, CXCL10), macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha (MIP-1α, CCL3), eotaxin-3 (CCL26), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), placental growth factor (PlGF), and fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (Flt-1). Patients with severe COVID-19 had higher IL-10 and lower macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC, CCL22) compared to the mild or moderate group (P<0.05). In the receiver operating characteristic curve, SAA, IL-6 and CRP showed strong sensitivity and specificity in predicting the severity and prognosis of COVID-19. Greater age and higher CRP had a significant association with disease severity (P<0.05). Our findings reveal that CRP, SAA, VCAM-1, CXCL10, CCL22 and IL-10 levels are promising biomarkers for COVID-19 disease severity, suggesting that plasma inflammatory mediators could be used as warning indicators of COVID-19 severity, aid in COVID-19 prognosis and treatment.
