Association between iron metabolism and SARS-COV-2 infection, determined by ferritin, hephaestin and hypoxia-induced factor-1 alpha levels in COVID-19 patients

Aslan, Elif Sibel, Aydm, Huseyn, Tekin, Yusuf Kenan, Keles, Sami, White, Kenneth and Hekim, Nezih (2023) Association between iron metabolism and SARS-COV-2 infection, determined by ferritin, hephaestin and hypoxia-induced factor-1 alpha levels in COVID-19 patients. Molecular Biology Reports. ISSN 1573-4978

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Abstract / Description

Background:
Due to the growing evidence of the importance of iron status in immune responses, the biomarkers of iron metabolism are of interest in novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The present prospective study was carried out to compare iron status indicated by levels of ferritin with the levels of two novel biomarkers related to iron homeostasis, hephaestin and hypoxia-inducible factors-1 (HIF-1α) in the serum of patients with COVID-19 in comparison with a control group.

Methods and results:
Blood samples from 34 COVID-19 patients and from 43 healthy volunteers were collected and the levels of HEPH and HIF-1α were measured by ELISA and compared with levels of serum ferritin. COVID-19 patients had higher serum levels of ferritin than those levels in control group (P < 0.0001). Conversely levels of HIF-1α and HEPH in the COVID-19 group were significantly lower than those of control group (P < 0.0001 for both). An inverse correlation between hephaestin and ferritin as well as between HIF-1α and ferritin was found among all subjects (P < 0.0001), and among COVID-19 patients, but not to statistical significance.

Conclusion:
Levels of hephaestin and HIF-1α were found to be inversely related levels of ferritin across all participants in the study, and to our knowledge this is the first report of hephaestin and HIF-1α as potential markers of iron status. Further studies are needed to corroborate the findings, utilizing a broader range of markers to monitor inflammatory as well as iron status.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	COVID-19; hephaestin; hypoxia inducible factor 1-alfa (HIF-1α); iron metabolism; ferritin
Subjects:	500 Natural Sciences and Mathematics > 570 Life sciences; biology 600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
Department:	School of Human Sciences
Depositing User:	Kenneth White
Date Deposited:	04 Jan 2023 10:34
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 16:09
URI:	https://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/id/eprint/8120

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