Possible involvement of Syndecan-1 in the state of COVID-19 related to endothelial injury

Keiko Suzuki; Hideshi Okada; Hiroyuki Tomita; Kazuyuki Sumi; Yoshinori Kakino; Ryu Yasuda; Yuichiro Kitagawa; Tetsuya Fukuta; Takahito Miyake; Shozo Yoshida; Akio Suzuki; Shinji Ogura

doi:10.1186/s12959-021-00258-x

Possible involvement of Syndecan-1 in the state of COVID-19 related to endothelial injury

Thromb J. 2021 Jan 27;19(1):5. doi: 10.1186/s12959-021-00258-x.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Gifu University Hospital, Gifu, Japan.
² Department of Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1194, Japan. hideshi@gifu-u.ac.jp.
³ Department of Tumor Pathology, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu, Japan.
⁴ Department of Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1194, Japan.

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus infection 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with microvascular endothelial injury. Here, we report that syndecan-1, a component of endothelial glycocalyx, may reflect the disease state of COVID-19 related to endothelial injury.

Case presentation: A patient with COVID-19 was transferred to the intensive care unit of our hospital. Computed tomography of the chest showed bilateral ground glass opacities, which was diagnosed as acute respiratory syndrome. The PaO₂/F_IO₂ ratio gradually increased from 158 on hospitalization to 300 on Day 11, on which day the ventilator was withdrawn. However, serum syndecan-1 (SDC-1) level gradually decreased from 400.5 ng/ml at hospitalization to 165.1 ng/ml on Day 5. On Day 6, serum SDC-1 level increased to 612.9 ng/ml owing to a systemic thrombosis with an increase in D-dimer. Serum SDC-1 level then decreased until 206.0 ng/ml on Day 11 after a decrease in D-dimer. The patient was transferred to another hospital on Day 21 after hospitalization.

Conclusions: In this case report, changes in serum SDC-1 level closely reflected the change in disease condition in a patient with COVID-19. Serum SDC-1 may be a useful biomarker for monitoring the disease state of critically ill patients with COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; D-dimer; Endothelial glycocalyx; Syndecan-1.