The relationship between serum pentraxin 3 levels and clinical prognosis in patients with Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum pentraxin 3 (PTX3) levels and the clinical course and prognosis of the disease in adult patients with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF). Materials and Methods: This study included a total of 60 participants, consisting of 30 patients diagnosed with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) who were monitored at the Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Yüzüncü Yıl University, between May 2024 and May 2025, and 30 healthy volunteers aged over 18 who visited the Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology outpatient clinic and agreed to participate in the study. The patient group was categorized into three groups mild, moderate, and severe based on the CCHF severity grading score (SGS) and clinical criteria for poor prognosis. Serum samples previously collected and stored at -80°C from both the CCHF patient group and the healthy control group were analyzed for PTX-3 levels using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method with commercial kits. Findings: The serum pentraxin 3 (PTX-3) level measured in patients was found to be significantly different compared to the healthy control group (556.3 ± 209.7 ng/ml vs. 210.3 ± 77.0 ng/ml, p = 0.000). The diagnostic efficacy of a PTX-3 cut-off value of 350 was significant in distinguishing between the control and CCHF patient groups [area under the curve (AUC): 0.833 (0.724–0.943)]. However, no statistically significant difference was observed between the groups with PTX-3 <350 and ≥350 in terms of SGS scores (mild, moderate, and severe) and bleeding status (p> 0.05). Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that PTX-3 can serve as a diagnostic biomarker for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF); however, it is not sufficient on its own to predict disease severity and prognosis. Utilizing PTX-3 alongside other inflammatory markers and clinical parameters may provide a more reliable assessment of diagnosis and prognosis in CCHF patients. In the future, multicenter, prospective studies with larger sample sizes are needed to more clearly establish the prognostic value of PTX-3 in CCHF and other infectious diseases.