Published in:
01-12-2020 | Urokinase | Letter
Plasma levels of the active form of suPAR are associated with COVID-19 severity
Authors:
Mingxiang Huang, Linlin Li, Jianshan Shen, Yao Wang, Rui Wang, Cai Yuan, Mingdong Huang, Longguang Jiang
Published in:
Critical Care
|
Issue 1/2020
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Excerpt
We read with great interest the recent study by Rovina et al., who found that the elevation of soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) plasma levels in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, and suggested the suPAR can be an early predictor of severe respiratory failure [
1]. There are three different suPAR forms (suPAR DI-III, suPAR DI, and suPAR DII-III) in circulation, in which suPAR DI-III is defined as the active form of suPAR by its capability of binding to uPA [
2]. In addition, the uPA/uPAR system as a therapeutic target has been proposed to reduce mortality of COVID-19 [
3]; therefore, further evaluation of the active form of suPAR plasma levels in different symptom types of COVID-19 patients and asymptomatic carriers could still provide important indications for required early admission and treatment. …