NET Formation in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Knopf J, Sjoewall J, Frodlund M, Hinkula J, Herrmann M, Sjoewall C (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Cells MDPI

Book Volume: 11

Journal Issue: 17

DOI: 10.3390/cells11172619

Abstract

The severity of the coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) is strongly linked to a dysregulated immune response. This fuels the fear of severe disease in patients with autoimmune disorders continuously using immunosuppressive/immunomodulating medications. One complication of COVID-19 is thromboembolism caused by intravascular aggregates of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) occluding the affected vessels. Like COVID-19, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by, amongst others, an increased risk of thromboembolism. An imbalance between NET formation and clearance is suggested to play a prominent role in exacerbating autoimmunity and disease severity. Serologic evidence of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 has a minor impact on the SLE course in a Swedish cohort reportedly. Herein, we assessed NET formation in patients from this cohort by neutrophil elastase (NE) activity and the presence of cell-free DNA, MPO-DNA, and NE-DNA complexes and correlated the findings to the clinical parameters. The presence of NE-DNA complexes and NE activity differed significantly in pre-pandemic versus pandemic serum samples. The latter correlated significantly with the hemoglobin concentration, blood cell counts, and complement protein 3 and 4 levels in the pre-pandemic but only with the leukocyte count and neutrophil levels in the pandemic serum samples. Taken together, our data suggest a change, especially in the NE activity independent of exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

Authors with CRIS profile

Jasmin Knopf Department of Medicine 3 – Rheumatology and Immunology Martin Herrmann Department of Medicine 3 – Rheumatology and Immunology

Involved external institutions

Linköpings universitet / Linköping University

Sweden (SE)

How to cite

APA:

Knopf, J., Sjoewall, J., Frodlund, M., Hinkula, J., Herrmann, M., & Sjoewall, C. (2022). NET Formation in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Cells, 11(17). https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11172619

MLA:

Knopf, Jasmin, et al. "NET Formation in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic." Cells 11.17 (2022).

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