Fig. 2

The level of functional DNase is lower in hospitalized patients compared to outpatients, resulting in an imbalanced NET markers/DNase ratio. A We examined the level of functional DNase (DNase) between non-severe (n = 93), severe (n = 15) and critical COVID-19 patients (n = 37). Results are expressed as fold change compared to healthy donors (n = 21). B, C Spearman correlation explores the relationship between the level of functional DNase and two disease severity markers, CRP (B), and neutrophils/lymphocytes ratio (C) across all patients (n = 145). D–F We compared the ratio between NET biomarkers [MPO-DNA (D), H3cit (E), and H3cit-DNA (F)] and DNase between non-severe (n = 93), severe (n = 15), and critical COVID-19 patients (n = 37) Results are expressed as a fold change ratio. G–L Spearman correlation investigates the correlation between the ratio of NET markers [MPO-DNA (G, J), H3cit (H, K), and H3cit-DNA (I, L)] over DNase and two severity markers, CRP (G–I), and neutrophils/lymphocytes ratio (J–L) in all COVID-19 patients (n = 145). Comparisons between groups were performed using a Compound Poisson-Gamma model adjusted for age, sex and BMI. Correlation were realized using Spearman method, adjusted for age, gender and BMI, after log transformation of CRP variable