Elevated carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia
- PDF / 385,319 Bytes
- 4 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 78 Downloads / 198 Views
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Elevated carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with COVID‑19 pneumonia Chongtu Yang1,2 · Jianwen Wang3 · Jiacheng Liu1,2 · Songjiang Huang1,2 · Bin Xiong1,2 Received: 20 June 2020 / Accepted: 4 August 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Purpose Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tends to affect multiple organs and induce abnormal laboratory parameters. We designed this study to investigate the association between carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) elevation and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 177 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who received plasma CEA assays during hospitalization. Patients with other causes of CEA elevation were excluded. Data regarding epidemiological and demographical characteristics, clinical symptoms, laboratory tests, and outcomes were analyzed. Linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between CEA levels and inflammation severity. Results 171 patients were included in the final study and 32 patients (18.7%) had raised serum of CEA (> 5 ng/ml), with a median (range) age of 66 (53–86). The median [interquartile range (IQR)] CEA level was 11.4 ng/ml (8.1–21.6), which was significantly higher than the upper limit of reference range. CEA level between 5–10 ng/ml was in 11 patients, 10–15 ng/ ml in 10 patients, and > 15 ng/ml in 11 patients. No correlation was found between CEA levels and lymphocyte (R2 = 0.055; P = 0.10) nor CRP (R2 = 0.026; P = 0.38). The median levels of CEA were 20.0 ng/ml (IQR, 14.7–23.0) in non-survivors and 10.9 ng/ml (IQR 7.5–16.1) in survivors, and the difference between two groups was statistically significant (P = 0.048). Conclusion SARS-CoV-2 infection might be another cause of CEA elevation, with nearly 20% of patients experienced transient and marked CEA increment during COVID-19 pneumonia. The false-positive results of CEA elevation might have clinical significance for patients with colorectal cancer. Keywords Carcinoembryonic antigen · Coronavirus disease 2019 · SARS-CoV-2 · Gastrointestinal damage
* Bin Xiong [email protected] Chongtu Yang [email protected] Jianwen Wang [email protected] Jiacheng Liu [email protected] Songjiang Huang [email protected] 1
Department of Radiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Jiefang Avenue #1277, Wuhan 430022, China
2
Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, China
3
Tuberculosis and Respiratory Department, Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, Wuhan, China
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARSCoV-2 infection has now become an international public health crisis. Mounting evidence suggests that this novel disease can affect multiple organs despite lung, such as heart, liver and gastrointestinal tract, and results in abnormalities of several biomarkers (Lin et al. 2020; Guan et al. 2019). Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a glycoprotein formed in colonic epithelium during embryonic period, which has been widely utili
Data Loading...
