Abstract
Cardiac microthrombi are postulated to underlie cardiac injury in critical COVID-19. To determine pathogenic mechanism(s) of cardiac injury in fatal COVID-19, we conducted a single-center prospective cohort study of 69 consecutive COVID-19 decedents. Microthrombi was the most commonly detected acute cardiac histopathologic feature (n=48, 70%). We tested associations of cardiac microthrombi with biomarkers of inflammation, cardiac injury, and fibrinolysis and with in-hospital antiplatelet therapy, therapeutic anticoagulation, and corticosteroid treatment, while adjusting for multiple clinical factors, including COVID-19 therapies. Higher peak ESR and CRP during hospitalization were independently associated with higher odds of microthrombi (ESR, P non-linearity 0.015, P association =0.008; CRP per 20mg/L increase, OR 1.17, 95%CI 1.00-1.36). Using single nuclei RNA-sequence analysis, we discovered an enrichment of prothrombotic, anti-fibrinolytic, and extracellular matrix signaling amongst cardiac fibroblasts in microthrombi-positive COVID-19 hearts, compared with microthrombi-negative COVID-19 hearts and non-COVID-19 donor hearts. Our cumulative findings identify these specific transcriptomic changes in cardiac fibroblasts as salient features of COVID-19-associated cardiac microthrombi.
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