IFI27 transcription is an early predictor for COVID-19 outcomes; a multi-cohort observational study
Authors: Shojaei Maryam , Shamshirian Amir , Monkman James , Grice Laura , Tran Minh , Tan Chin Wee , Rossi Gustavo Rodrigues , McCulloch Timothy R. , Nalos Marek , Chew Keng Yih , Zhu Yanshan , Xia Yao , Wells Timothy J. , Senegaglia Alexandra Cristina , Rebelatto Carmen Lúcia Kuniyoshi , Franck Claudio Luciano , dos Santos Anna Flavia Ribeiro , de Noronha Lucia , Motamen Sepideh , Valadan Reza , Amjadi Omolbanin , Gogna Rajan , Madan Esha , Alizadeh-Navaei Reza , Lamperti Liliana , Zuñiga Felipe , Nova-Lamperti Estefania , Labarca Gonzalo , Knippenberg Ben , Herwanto Velma , Wang Ya , Phu Amy , Chew Tracy , Kwan Timothy , Kim Karan , Teoh Sally , Pelaia Tiana M , Kuan Win Sen , Jee Yvette , Iredell Jon , O’Byrne Ken , Fraser John F. , Davis Melissa J. , Belz Gabrielle , Warkiani Majid , Gallo Carlos Salomon , Souza-Fonseca-Guimaraes Fernando , Nguyen Quan , Mclean Anthony , Kulasinghe Arutha , Short Kirsty R. , Tang Benjamin 
Published: November 2021

Background

Robust biomarkers that predict disease outcomes amongst COVID-19 patients are necessary for both patient triage and resource prioritisation. Numerous candidate biomarkers have been proposed for COVID-19. However, at present, there is no consensus on the best diagnostic approach to predict outcomes in infected patients. Moreover, it is not clear whether such tools would apply to other potentially pandemic pathogens and therefore of use as stockpile for future pandemic preparedness.

Methods

We conducted a multi-cohort observational study to investigate the biology and the prognostic role of interferon alpha-inducible protein 27 (IFI27) in COVID-19 patients.

Findings

We show that IFI27 is expressed in the respiratory tract of COVID-19 patients and elevated IFI27 expression is associated with the presence of a high viral load. We further demonstrate that systemic host response, as measured by blood IFI27 expression, is associated with COVID-19 severity. For clinical outcome prediction (e.g. respiratory failure), IFI27 expression displays a high positive (0.83) and negative (0.95) predictive value, outperforming all other known predictors of COVID-19 severity. Furthermore, IFI27 is upregulated in the blood of infected patients in response to other respiratory viruses. For example, in the pandemic H1N1/09 swine influenza virus infection, IFI27-like genes were highly upregulated in the blood samples of severely infected patients.

Interpretation

These data suggest that prognostic biomarkers targeting the family of IFI27 genes could potentially supplement conventional diagnostic tools in future virus pandemics, independent of whether such pandemics are caused by a coronavirus, an influenza virus or another as yet-to-be discovered respiratory virus.

Research in context

Evidence before this study

We searched the scientific literature using PubMed to identify studies that used the IFI27 biomarker to predict outcomes in COVID-19 patients. We used the search terms “IFI27”, “COVID-19, “gene expression” and “outcome prediction”. We did not identify any study that investigated the role of IFI27 biomarker in outcome prediction. Although ten studies were identified using the general terms of “gene expression” and “COVID-19”, IFI27 was only mentioned in passing as one of the identified genes. All these studies addressed the broader question of the host response to COVID-19; none focused solely on using IFI27 to improve the risk stratification of infected patients in a pandemic.

Added value of this study

Here, we present the findings of a multi-cohort study of the IFI27 biomarker in COVID-19 patients. Our findings show that the host response, as reflected by blood IFI27 gene expression, accurately predicts COVID-19 disease progression (positive and negative predictive values; 0.83 and 0.95, respectively), outperforming age, comorbidity, C-reactive protein and all other known risk factors. The strong association of IFI27 with disease severity occurs not only in SARS-CoV-2 infection, but also in other respiratory viruses with pandemic potential, such as the influenza virus. These findings suggest that host response biomarkers, such as IFI27, could help identify high-risk COVID-19 patients - those who are more likely to develop infection complications - and therefore may help improve patient triage in a pandemic.

Implications of all the available evidence

This is the first systemic study of the clinical role of IFI27 in the current COVID-19 pandemic and its possible future application in other respiratory virus pandemics. The findings not only could help improve the current management of COVID-19 patients but may also improve future pandemic preparedness.