Decreased Circulating Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Enzyme Activity Is Prognostic for Severe Outcomes in Covid-19 Inpatients
Ákos Nádasdi, György Sinkovits, Ilona Bobek, Botond Lakatos, Zsolt Förhécz, Zita Z. Prohászka, Marienn Réti, Miklós Arató, Gellért Cseh, Tamás Masszi, Béla Merkely, Péter Ferdinandy, István Vályi‐Nagy, Zoltán Prohászka, Gábor Firneisz
Abstract
Aim: To investigate the serum circulating DPP4 activity in patients with COVID-19 disease. Materials & methods: Serum samples from 102 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and 43 post-COVID-19 plasma donors and 39 SARS-CoV-2 naive controls and their medical data were used. Circulating DPP4 activities according to different COVID-19 disease peak severity (WHO) groups at sampling and at peak were assessed. Results: A significant decrease (p < 0.0001) in serum DPP4 activity was found in study groups of higher disease severity. When the circulating DPP4 activity was assessed as a prognostic marker, the logistic regression (p = 0.0023) indicated that the enzyme activity is a predictor of mortality (median 9.5 days before death) with receiver operating characteristic area under the curves of 73.33% (p[area = 0.5] < 0.0001) as single predictor and 83.45% (p[area = 0.5] < 0.0001) in combination with age among hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Conclusion: Decreased circulating DPP4 activity is associated with severe COVID-19 disease and is a strong prognostic biomarker of mortality.