Mechanism of pyroptosis and affecting factors in COVID-19 disease

Objective: To examine the relationship between Covid-19 disease and pyroptosis, which is a cell death mechanism, to compare the serum parameters associated with pyroptosis among research groups and examine their differences. Method: This clinical research study was conducted on patients hospitalized in the Pandemic Service of Harran University Faculty of Medicine and patients who applied to the family medicine outpatient clinic between 2020-2022. 28 Covid positive, 30 Covid suspected and 30 healthy people were included in the study. SPSS 22.0 program was used for statistical analysis, and p< 0.05 was accepted as the level of significance using appropriate statistical analyzes. Findings: A total of 88 participants, 48 (54.5%) female and 40 (45.5%) male, were included in the study. The mean age and smoking rate of the suspected Covid group were found to be higher than the control group (p<0.001). The rate of additional disease in the Covid positive and Covid suspected groups was higher than the control group (p<0.001). Procalcitonin (p<0.001), AST (p<0.001), albumin (p<0.001), LDH (p<0.001), CRP (p<0.001), D-dimer (p<0.001) in the Covid positive and Covid suspected group compared to the control group 0.001), high fibrinogen (p=0.005) values; albumin (p<0.001) values are low. In the control group, lymphocyte (p<0.001), eosinophil (p<0.001), basophil (p<0.001) and hematocrit (p=0.020) values were higher than the other groups. While monocyte (p=0.006) values were lower in the Covid suspected group than in the other groups; neutrophil (p<0.001) values are higher. Hemoglobin (p=0.024) values were higher in the control group than in the Covid positive group. IL-1β values were found to be significantly higher in the Covid positive group compared to the control group (p=0.012). NLRP3 values were found to be significantly higher in the Covid positive group compared to the Covid suspected and control groups (p<0.001). No significant relationship was found in terms of other parameters. Results: As a result, in the study; High levels of NLRP3, IL-1β, and procalcitonin in the Covid positive group suggest that there is a significant relationship between Covid-19 and the mechanism of pyroptosis.