• Emine Kartal Baykan, Engin Şebin, Ömer Karaşahin, Ahmed Ramiz Baykan, Serkan Cerrah, Hasan Göğebakan, Can Sevinç, Mustafa Kahraman, and YavuzYasemin CoşkunYCDivision of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey..
• Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic diseases, Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital, Erzurum, Turkey.
• Turk J Med Sci. 2021 Oct 21; 51 (5): 225622622256-2262.

Background/AimBiochemical markers are needed to show lung involvement in COVID-19 disease. Galectin-3 is known to play a key role in the inflammation and fibrosis process. We aimed to evaluate the predictive role of galectin-3 levels for pneumonia in patients with COVID-19.Materials And MethodsTotal of 176 patients with COVID-19, confirmed with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, admitted to the Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital was analyzed. The study was designed as a cross sectional. The baseline data of laboratory examinations, including galectin-3 were collected at the time of diagnosis. CT images evaluated by a single radiologist according to the recommendation of the Radiological Society of North America Expert Consensus Document for pulmonary involvement. The severity of COVID-19 pneumonia was assessed using the total severity score.ResultsThe mean galectin-3 level in patients with typical pneumonia was found to be significantly higher than those patients with atypical (p < 0.01) and indeterminate appearance (p < 0.01) and patients without pneumonia (p < 0.01). The severity of lung involvement was significantly associated with Galectin-3 levels (p < 0.01 r: 0.76). Stepwise logistic regression model showed that the levels of ferritin (odds ratio [OR] = 0.05, p: 0.08) and galectin-3 (OR = 0.1, p < 0.01) were significantly and independently associated with typical pneumoniain COVID-19 patients. When COVID-19 patients were evaluated in terms of typical pneumonia, we determined a cut-off value of 18.9 ng/mL for galectin-3 via ROC analysis (87% sensitivity; 73% specificity; area under curve (AUC): 0.89; p < 0.001).ConclusionGalectin-3 was found as a diagnostic tool for COVID-19 associated typical pneumonia and as an indicator of both pneumonia and its severity.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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