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Elevated Serum Presepsin Identifies Herpes Simplex Virus-1 Reactivation in COVID-19 Patients
Mester, Patricia, Keller, Dennis, Kunst, Claudia, Schmid, Stephan
, Krautbauer, Sabrina, Müller, Martina, Buechler, Christa
and Pavel, Vlad
(2025)
Elevated Serum Presepsin Identifies Herpes Simplex Virus-1 Reactivation in COVID-19 Patients.
Viruses 17 (3), p. 357.
Date of publication of this fulltext: 17 Mar 2025 18:25
Article
DOI to cite this document: 10.5283/epub.75264
Abstract
Presepsin, a cleaved peptide of soluble CD14, may become a promising biomarker for assessing disease severity and mortality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Patients with severe COVID-19 frequently develop bacterial and fungal superinfections, as well as herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) reactivation, which may exacerbate disease progression. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of ...
Presepsin, a cleaved peptide of soluble CD14, may become a promising biomarker for assessing disease severity and mortality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Patients with severe COVID-19 frequently develop bacterial and fungal superinfections, as well as herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) reactivation, which may exacerbate disease progression. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of concomitant infections on serum presepsin levels. Serum presepsin levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 63 patients with moderate COVID-19, 60 patients with severe disease, and 49 healthy controls. Correlations with procalcitonin and the presence of superinfections or HSV-1 reactivation were assessed. Consistent with previous studies, serum presepsin levels were the highest in patients with severe COVID-19 (p = 0.002 compared to patients with moderate disease). Within this group, non-survivors exhibited significantly elevated presepsin levels (p = 0.027). A positive correlation between presepsin and procalcitonin was observed in both moderate and severe COVID-19 cases. Patients with bacterial or fungal superinfections showed presepsin levels comparable to those without secondary infections. However, presepsin levels were markedly elevated in patients with HSV-1 reactivation (p = 0.002). After excluding patients with HSV-1 reactivation, presepsin levels no longer differed between moderate and severe COVID-19 cases, though they remained higher than in healthy controls (p < 0.001 for both comparisons). In conclusion, these findings suggest that elevated serum presepsin levels in severe COVID-19 are primarily driven by HSV-1 reactivation rather than bacterial or fungal superinfections.
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| Item type | Article | ||||
| Journal or Publication Title | Viruses | ||||
| Publisher: | MDPI | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Access Type: | Gold (with APC) | ||||
| Volume: | 17 | ||||
| Number of Issue or Book Chapter: | 3 | ||||
| Page Range: | p. 357 | ||||
| Date | 28 February 2025 | ||||
| Institutions | Medicine > Lehrstuhl für Innere Medizin I | ||||
| Identification Number |
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| Keywords | COVID-19; presepsin; SARS-CoV-2; herpes simplex virus; bacterial superinfection | ||||
| Dewey Decimal Classification | 600 Technology > 610 Medical sciences Medicine | ||||
| Status | Published | ||||
| Refereed | Yes, this version has been refereed | ||||
| Created at the University of Regensburg | Yes | ||||
| URN of the UB Regensburg | urn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-752642 | ||||
| Item ID | 75264 |
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