Comparative assessment of protease activity of mast cells in heart and pulmonary tissues in case of COVID-19
Abstract. Some data on the contribution of mast cells (MC) to lung damage in case of COVID-19 are existing. However, information on cardiac MC in the new coronavirus infection is limited and contradictory. These factors generate interest in studying the contribution of MCs to cardiac injury in case of new coronavirus infection.Budnevsky A.V., Avdeev S.N., Arkhipova E.D., Shishkina V.V., Chernik T.A., Filin A.A.
The aim: to make a comparative assessment of the protease activity of MCs in pulmonary and cardiac tissues of patients who died due to COVID-19.
Material and methods. The sample consisted of 40 patients (21 male, 19 female, mean age 66.65 ± 7.40 years) hospitalized with a diagnosis of severe and extremely severe COVID-19 and died due to diffuse alveolar damage. Autopsy material of heart and lung tissues was stained with hematoxylin and eosin and by Picro – Mallory staining, as well as immunohistochemical analysis was made. Total number of MCs was counted with distribution by the degree of degranulation, as well as a quantitative analysis of the protease profile (tryptase, chymase, carboxypeptidase A3 (CPA3) per 1 mm2 was made.
Results. The greatest differences in the comparison of MCs protease profile in heart and lung tissues were observed in the number of tryptase-positive MCs: the medians were 2.39 [1.795; 3.42] per 1 mm2 and 23.87 [14.8; 34.53] per 1 mm2, respectively (p = 0.0000). Significant differences remained for all MC phenotypes with their predominance in pulmonary tissues (p = 0.0000). Positive correlations were fixed between the number of MCs in the tissues of studied organs with the highest correlation coefficients for degranulated tryptase-positive MCs (r = 0.4711; p = 0.0001) and the total amount of CPA3-positive MCs (r = 0.5056; p = 0.0319).
Conclusion. MCs of all phenotypes were predominant in the lungs. In both organs (heart and lungs), the largest amount of MCs was represented by tryptase-positive, and the smallest number – by chymase-positive cells. The presence of correlations between MCs in heart and lungs may indicate the involvement of the heart in systemic inflammatory process in case of COVID-19 in all patients, regardless of the presence of clinical manifestations of this organ’s damage.
Keywords
mast cell protease activity
COVID-19
comparative analysis
cardiac mast cells
pulmonary mast cells
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About the Authors
Andrey V. Budnevsky, MD, Dr. Sci. (Medicine), professor, head of the Department of faculty therapy, N.N. Burdenko Voronezh State Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia. Address: 394036, Voronezh, 10 Studentcheskaya St.E-mail: avbudnevski@vrngmu.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1171-2746
Sergey N. Avdeev, MD, Dr. Sci. (Medicine), professor, academician of RAS, head of the Department of pulmonology of N.V. Sklifosovsky Institute of Clinical Medicine, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia (Sechenov University). Address: 119048, Moscow, 8/2 Trubetskaya St.
E-mail: serg_avdeev@list.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5999-2150
Ekaterina D. Arkhipova, MD, postgraduate student of the Department of faculty therapy, N.N. Burdenko Voronezh State Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia. Address: 394036, Voronezh, 10 Studencheskaya St.
E-mail: e.pavlyukevich@bk.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4960-334X
Victoria V. Shishkina, MD, PhD (Medicine), head of the Department of histology, N.N. Burdenko Voronezh State Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia. Address: 394036, Voronezh, 10 Studencheskaya St.
E-mail: v.v.4128069@yandex.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9185-4578
Tatiana A. Chernik, MD, PhD (Medicine), associate professor of the Department of faculty therapy, N.N. Burdenko Voronezh State Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia. Address: 394036, Voronezh, 10 Studencheskaya St.
E-mail: ch01@mail.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1371-0848
Andrey A. Filin, MD, PhD (Medicine), head of the Department of pathological anatomy, senior researcher at the Research Institute of Experimental Biology and Medicine, N.N. Burdenko Voronezh State Medical University of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia. Address: 394036, Voronezh, 10 Studencheskaya St.
E-mail: filinan@yandex.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1670-3694
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