SOD1 is a Possible Predictor of COVID-19 Progression as Revealed by Plasma Proteomics

The coronavirus disease
2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe
acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a
worldwide health emergency. Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 present
with diverse symptoms related to the severity of the disease. Determining
the proteomic changes associated with these diverse symptoms and in
different stages of infection is beneficial for clinical diagnosis
and management. Here, we performed a tandem mass tag-labeling proteomic
study on the plasma of healthy controls and COVID-19 patients, including
those with asymptomatic infection (NS), mild syndrome, and severe
syndrome in the early phase and the later phase. Although the number
of patients included in each group is low, our comparative proteomic
analysis revealed that complement and coagulation cascades, cholesterol
metabolism, and glycolysis-related proteins were affected after infection
with SARS-CoV-2. Compared to healthy controls, ELISA analysis confirmed
that SOD1, PRDX2, and LDHA levels were increased in the patients with
severe symptoms. Both gene set enrichment analysis and receiver operator
characteristic analysis indicated that SOD1 could be a pivotal indicator
for the severity of COVID-19. Our results indicated that plasma proteome
changes differed based on the symptoms and disease stages and SOD1
could be a predictor protein for indicating COVID-19 progression.
These results may also provide a new understanding for COVID-19 diagnosis
and treatment.