Briefland Jundishapur J Microbiol 2008-4161 14 10 2021 11 18 10.5812/jjm.119060 Didem Ozgür Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kafkas University Kars, Kars, Turkey Murat Karamese Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kafkas University Kars, Kars, Turkey Alpay Medetalibeyoglu Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey Onur Alkan Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey Naci Senkal Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey Emin Ediz Tutuncu Department of Infectious Disease and Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kafkas University, Kars, Turkey Research Article 2021 11 6 2021 9 15 2021 11 18 2021 10 31 Background : Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection may trigger a cytokine storm, which is characterized by uncontrolled overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines. Objectives : We aimed to investigate the association between circulating levels of inflammatory cytokines and severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods : This cross-sectional study included 46 severe and 32 mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients. The serum levels of cytokines and chemokines were determined using the Bio-Plex Pro ^TMHuman Cytokine Screening Panel. Results : Out of a total of 78 patients with confirmed COVID-19, 54 (69.2%) were males, and 24 (30.8%) were females. The mean age was 43.1 ± 13.3 and 58.2 ± 15 in mild and severe patients, respectively. Severe patients were characterized by significant laboratory abnormalities, such as increased WBC (P = 0.002) and neutrophil counts (P = 0.001), higher levels of ALT (P = 0.03), AST (P = 0.002), LDH (P < 0.001), urea (P = 0.013), ferritin (P < 0.001), D-dimer (P = 0.042), CRP (P < 0.001), and decreased lymphocyte (P < 0.001) and platelet (P = 0.045) counts. The levels of IL-6, IL-8, IL-13, TNF-α, IFN-γ, MIP-1β, and MCP-1 increased in the severe group compared to the mild group. However, significant differences were observed only for IL-6 (P < 0.001) and IL-8 (P < 0.001) levels. Conclusions : Serum IL-6 and IL-8 levels can be used as potential prognostic biomarkers of disease severity in COVID-19 patients. https://sites.kowsarpub.com/jjm/articles/119060.html https://jjm.kowsarpub.com/cdn/dl/65e0a3fa-5e10-11ec-b2f6-37c34cf7f4a9 SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 Cytokine Storm Proinflammatory Cytokines Interleukin-6 Interleukin-8