Antiphospholipid Antibodies in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19.
Meng XiaoYan ZhangShulan ZhangXuzhen QinPeng XiaWei CaoWei JiangHuan ChenXin DingHua ZhaoHongmin ZhangChunyao WangJing ZhaoXuefeng SunRan TianWei WuDong WuJie MaYu ChenDong ZhangJing XieXiaowei YanXiang ZhouZhengyin LiuJinglan WangBin DuYan QinPeng GaoMinya LuXin HouXian WuHuadong ZhuYingchun XuWen ZhangTaisheng LiFengchun ZhangYongqiang ZhaoYongzhe LiShuyang ZhangPublished in: Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.) (2020)
Antiphospholipid antibodies were common in critically ill patients with COVID-19. Repeated testing demonstrating medium to high titers of aPLs and the number of aPL types a patient is positive for may help in identifying patients who are at risk of developing cerebral infarction. Antiphospholipid antibodies may be transient and disappear within a few weeks, but in genetically predisposed patients, COVID-19 may trigger the development of an autoimmune condition similar to the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), referred to as "COVID-19-induced APS-like syndrome." Long-term follow-up of COVID-19 patients who are positive for aPLs would be of great importance in understanding the pathogenesis of this novel coronavirus.