Low levels of CIITA and high levels of SOCS1 predict COVID-19 disease severity in children and adults

It is unclear why COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic to severe. When SARS-CoV-2 is detected, interferon (IFN) response is activated. When it is insufficient or delayed, it might lead to overproduction of cytokines and severe COVID-19. The aim was to compare cytokine and IFN patterns in children and adults with differing severity with SARS-CoV-2.It was a prospective, observational study, including 84 patients. Patients with moderate/severe disease had higher cytokines' values than patients with mild disease (p< 0.001).Two IFN genes were selected to build a decision tree for severity classification: SOCS1 (representative of the rest of the IFN genes) and CIITA (inverse correlation). Low values of CIITA and high values of SOCS1 indicated severe disease. This method correctly classified 33/38(86.8%) of children and 27/34 (79.4%) of adults. To conclude, patients with severe disease had an elevated cytokine pattern, which correlated with the IFN response, with low CIITA and high SOCS1 values.This study was supported by the projects PI18/00223, FI19/00208 and PI21/00211 to LA, integrated in the Plan Nacional de I + D + I and co-financed by the ISCIII– Subdirección General de Evaluación y Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria – and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), by Pla Estratègic de Recerca i Innovació en Salut (PERIS), Departament de Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya (SLT006/17/00199 to LA), and by CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya. It was also partially funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), Banco Santander, and other private donors of ‘‘KidsCorona platform’’ from Hospital Sant Joan de Déu.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version