IL-17A and TNF-α as potential biomarkers for acute respiratory distress syndrome and mortality in patients with obesity and COVID-19

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic and international health emergency by the World Health Organization. Patients with obesity with COVID-19 are 7 times more likely to need invasive mechanical ventilation than are patients without obesity (OR 7.36; 95% CI: 1.63–33.14, p = 0.021). Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is one of the main causes of death related to COVID-19 and is triggered by a cytokine storm that damages the respiratory epithelium. Interleukins that cause the chronic low-grade inflammatory state of obesity, such as interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, monocyte chemoattractant peptide (MCP)-1, and, in particular, IL-17A and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), also play very important roles in lung damage in ARDS. Therefore, obesity is associated with an immune state favourable to a cytokine storm. Our hypothesis is that serum concentrations of TNF-α and IL-17A are more elevated in patients with obesity and COVID-19, and consequently, they have a greater probability of developing ARDS and death. The immunobiology of IL-17A and TNF-α opens a new fascinating field of research for COVID-19.