CD177, a specific marker of neutrophil activation, is associated with coronavirus disease 2019 severity and death
Yves Lévy, Aurélie Wiedemann, Boris P. Hejblum, Mélany Durand, Cécile Lefebvre, Mathieu Surénaud, Christine Lacabaratz, Matthieu Perreau, Emile Foucat, Marie Déchenaud, Pascaline Tisserand, Fabiola Blengio, Benjamin Hivert, Marine Gauthier, Minerva Cervantes-Gonzalez, Delphine Bachelet, Cédric Laouenan, Lila Bouadma, Jean‐François Timsit, Yazdan Yazdanpanah, Giuseppe Pantaleo, Hakim Hocini, Rodolphe Thiébaut
Abstract
The identification of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 and high risk of severe disease is a challenge in routine care. We performed cell phenotypic, serum, and RNA sequencing gene expression analyses in severe hospitalized patients (n = 61). Relative to healthy donors, results showed abnormalities of 27 cell populations and an elevation of 42 cytokines, neutrophil chemo-attractants, and inflammatory components in patients. Supervised and unsupervised analyses revealed a high abundance of CD177 , a specific neutrophil activation marker, contributing to the clustering of severe patients. Gene abundance correlated with high serum levels of CD177 in severe patients. Higher levels were confirmed in a second cohort and in intensive care unit (ICU) than non-ICU patients (P < 0.001). Longitudinal measurements discriminated between patients with the worst prognosis, leading to death, and those who recovered (P = 0.01). These results highlight neutrophil activation as a hallmark of severe disease and CD177 assessment as a reliable prognostic marker for routine care.