High levels of circulating osteopontin in inflammatory lung disease regardless of Sars-CoV-2 infection
From April 2020 to December 2020, 52 hospitalized patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were enrolled at Maggiore della Carità University Hospital in Novara, Italy. Patients were hospitalized for acute respiratory or influenza-like symptoms during the two waves of SARS-CoV-2 infection and stratified by the results of molecular analysis on nasal swabs. OPN levels were measured by ELISA and OPN levels were found to be increased in SARS-CoV-2 patients compared to non-comorbid and non-hospitalized healthy controls. ; This study was funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) program "Departments of Excellence 2018–2022", FOHN to AC and AGING Projects to AC and RV, Fondazione Cariplo 2019-3277 to AC, European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement No. 953121—project FLAMIN-GO to AC, and European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 860462-Project PREMUROSA to HA.