We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
ZeptoMetrix an Antylia scientific company

Download Mobile App




CRP Tracking Predicts Potential Outcome for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 16 Nov 2020
Print article
Image: Model of C-reactive protein (CRP) (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Image: Model of C-reactive protein (CRP) (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
By tracking the increase in circulating levels of the inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein, doctors are able to predict whether newly hospitalized COVID-19 patients will suffer respiratory deterioration with the possible need for intubation.

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a ring-shaped, pentameric protein found in blood plasma, whose circulating concentrations rise in response to inflammation. It is an acute-phase protein manufactured in the liver that increases following interleukin-6 (IL-6) secretion by macrophages and T-cells. Its physiological role is to bind to lysophosphatidylcholine expressed on the surface of dead or dying cells (and some types of bacteria) in order to activate the complement system via C1q.

Investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, MA, USA) examined the theory that inflammatory biomarker levels could predict respiratory decline in patients who initially presented with stable disease. For this study, the investigators followed CRP levels in 100 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital.

Results revealed that a rapid rise in CRP levels during the first 48-to-72 hours of hospitalization was predictive of subsequent respiratory deterioration and intubation, while steadier CRP levels were observed in patients whose condition remained stable. Increasing CRP during the first 48 hours of hospitalization was a better predictor (with higher sensitivity) of respiratory decline than initial CRP levels.

"We realized that whereas a single CRP lab value from hospital admission was not very practical as a predictor of who might get sicker, tracking the rate of change from Day One to Day Two or Three was a very powerful and very clinically predictive test," said senior author Dr. Edy Yong Kim, instructor in medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "Even though all of these patients looked clinically similar upon admission, as early as 24 hours after hospitalization, the immune systems of patients who would go on to the ICU multiple days later were already inflamed, as measured by these biomarkers. Because of our findings, we changed our guidelines at the Brigham to mandate CRP tracking every day for the first three days of hospitalization so that we could try to identify vulnerable patients and keep a close eye on their inflammation."

The CRP study was published in the October 28, 2020, online edition of the journal Cell Reports Medicine.

Related Links:
Brigham and Women's Hospital

Gold Member
Chagas Disease Test
CHAGAS Cassette
Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels
New
Malondialdehyde HPLC Test
Malondialdehyde in Serum/Plasma – HPLC
New
Unstirred Waterbath
HumAqua 5

Print article

Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel
Image: QIP-MS could predict and detect myeloma relapse earlier compared to currently used techniques (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Mass Spectrometry-Based Monitoring Technique to Predict and Identify Early Myeloma Relapse

Myeloma, a type of cancer that affects the bone marrow, is currently incurable, though many patients can live for over 10 years after diagnosis. However, around 1 in 5 individuals with myeloma have a high-risk... Read more

Immunology

view channel
Image: The cancer stem cell test can accurately choose more effective treatments (Photo courtesy of University of Cincinnati)

Stem Cell Test Predicts Treatment Outcome for Patients with Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer frequently responds to chemotherapy initially, but eventually, the tumor develops resistance to the therapy, leading to regrowth. This resistance is partially due to the activation... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: Ziyang Wang and Shengxi Huang have developed a tool that enables precise insights into viral proteins and brain disease markers (Photo courtesy of Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

Light Signature Algorithm to Enable Faster and More Precise Medical Diagnoses

Every material or molecule interacts with light in a unique way, creating a distinct pattern, much like a fingerprint. Optical spectroscopy, which involves shining a laser on a material and observing how... Read more

Industry

view channel
Image: The collaboration aims to leverage Oxford Nanopore\'s sequencing platform and Cepheid\'s GeneXpert system to advance the field of sequencing for infectious diseases (Photo courtesy of Cepheid)

Cepheid and Oxford Nanopore Technologies Partner on Advancing Automated Sequencing-Based Solutions

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a leading molecular diagnostics company, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (Oxford, UK), the company behind a new generation of sequencing-based molecular analysis technologies,... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.