Circulating Endothelial Cells as a Marker of Endothelial Injury in Severe COVID -19

Christophe Guervilly (1) , Stéphane Burtey (2, 3) , Florence Sabatier (2, 4) , Raphaël Cauchois (2, 5) , Guillaume Lano (2) , Evelyne Abdili (4) , Florence Daviet (4) , Laurent Arnaud (4) , Philippe Brunet (2) , Sami Hraiech (1) , Noémie Jourde-Chiche (2) , Marie Koubi (4) , Romaric Lacroix (2) , Léa Pietri (4) , Yaël Berda (4) , Thomas Robert (4, 2) , Clara Degioanni (4) , Mélanie Velier (2, 4) , Laurent Papazian (1, 6) , Gilles Kaplanski (2) , Francoise Dignat-George (2, 4)

1 Hôpital Nord [CHU - APHM]
2 C2VN - Centre recherche en CardioVasculaire et Nutrition = Center for CardioVascular and Nutrition research
3 Centre de néphrologie et transplantation rénale [Hôpital de la Conception - APHM]
4 LA CONCEPTION - Hôpital de la Conception [CHU - APHM]
5 Laboratoire d'Immunologie [Hôpital de la Conception - APHM]
6 CEReSS - Centre d'études et de recherche sur les services de santé et la qualité de vie

Beside the commonly described pulmonary expression of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), major vascular events have been reported. The objective of this study was to investigate whether increased levels of circulating endothelial cells (CECs) might be associated with severe forms of COVID-19. Ninety-nine patients with COVID-19 were enrolled in this retrospective study. Patients in the intensive care units (ICU) had significantly higher CEC counts than non-ICU patients and the extent of endothelial injury was correlated with putative markers of disease severity and inflammatory cytokines. Together, these data provide in vivo evidence that endothelial injury is a key feature of COVID-19.

Keywords: circulating endothelial cells; COVID-19; endothelial injury

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology

Christophe Guervilly, Stéphane Burtey, Florence Sabatier, Raphaël Cauchois, Guillaume Lano, et al.. Circulating Endothelial Cells as a Marker of Endothelial Injury in Severe COVID -19. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2020, 222 (11), pp.1789-1793. ⟨10.1093/infdis/jiaa528⟩. ⟨hal-03171102⟩