The most common respiratory symptoms of COVID 19 patients include dry cough, dyspnea, pneumonia, etc., and in severe cases, white lung can appear, and respiratory failure is life-threatening. Even after rehabilitation, many people still coughed, and many people panicked, and took the initiative to go to the hospital to ask for a film to see the condition of their lungs.
COVID 19 infection can cause bilateral interstitial pneumonia, and 30% to 60% of patients have interstitial lung changes. Compared with nucleic acid testing and chest CT for the detection of COVID-19, the level monitoring of KL-6 expressed on the surface of type II alveolar epithelial cells is rapid and sensitive, and can be used as a useful biomarker to assess the severity of COVID-19 disease.
KL-6 as a novel biomarker for severe COVID-19
The study found that KL-6 levels were significantly elevated in patients in the severe disease group and were positively correlated with disease severity in COVID-19 patients. The cut-off value of serum KL-6 in patients with severe COVID-19 was 362.65 U/mL, with a sensitivity of 70.4% and a specificity of 95.8%.
KL-6 expedites the diagnostic process for symptomatic cases
In the COVID-19 positive group, the median CT score of patients with KL-6 > 400 U/mL was significantly higher than that of patients with KL-6 ≤ 400 U/mL. CT has high sensitivity and is widely used as an adjunct to the management of COVID-19 patients as a reference diagnostic modality for the assessment of lung involvement and patient stratification. The results of the literature study showed that the dynamic distribution of KL-6 in COVID-19 positive patients was closely related to CT lung severity.
Pulmonary fibrosis & interstitial lung disease
Pulmonary fibrosis is an end-stage change in lung disease characterized by fibroblast proliferation and extracellular matrix aggregation, which is common in idiopathic interstitial pneumonia and is a major group of interstitial lung diseases.
KL-6 Application Department
Rheumatology and Immunology: Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD)
Respiratory: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, COVID-19
Oncology: ICIs-associated pneumonia (CIP), drug-induced pneumonitis, radiation pneumonitis
Pediatrics: Community-acquired pneumonia
ICU versus emergency: differentiating severe pneumonia (pulmonary bacterial infection from pulmonary interstitial lesions)
1. Homogeneous chemiluminescence, no cleaning and no separation
2. 20μL sample, 5 min to produce results
3. Lyophilized reagents, no need for refrigerated storage and transportation
4. Single-serve packaging to avoid reagent waste
