Evaluation of Interleukin-4 in Corona Virus Disease-19 Patients

Background: Cytokines are a group of polypeptide signaling molecules responsible for regulating a large number of biological processes via cell surface receptors. Aim and objectives: To study the interleukin-4 levels in patients with Coronavirus-19 Disease and its possible relations with the disease severity. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 subjects in National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute. Patients were divided into: Cases (150 subdivided into group A: mild group, B: moderate group, C: severe group) and control (50 group). Full medical history, physical examination, laboratory tests (IL-4, CRP, Procalcitonin, Serum ferritin, D-Dimer, LDH, CBC, renal and liver function tests), CT chest and COVID-19 PCR were done for all groups. Results: There was high statistically significant increase in IL4 in group C when compared with those of group A, Group B and group D. Serum IL-4 is good to discriminate between group B and group C with AUC of 0.706, sensitivity of 58%, specificity of 84%, PPV of 78.4%, NPV of 66.7% and p-value < 0.001. By multivariate analysis, IL-4 is a predictor for COVID-19 severity. Also, there was high statistically significant positive correlation between IL-4 and severity score. Conclusion: Interleukin-4 (IL-4) levels may be linked with the disease severity in patients with Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) and can be used as an effective indicator to predict the severity of COVID-19 disease.