Abstract: ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 09 August 2022 doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.935363 Inflammatory-Metal Profile as a Hallmark for COVID-19 Severity During Pregnancy Edited by: Teresita Padilla-Benavides, Wesleyan University, United States Reviewed by: Mauricio Comas-Garcia, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Mexico Odette Verdejo-Torres, University of Massachusetts Medical School, United States *Correspondence: Guadalupe Estrada-Gutierrez gpestrad@gmail.com Fanis Missirlis fanis@fisio.cinvestav.mx † These authors have contributed equally to this work and share senior authorship Specialty section: This article was submitted to Cellular Biochemistry, a section of the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology Received: 03 May 2022 Accepted: 14 June 2022 Published: 09 August 2022 Citation: Vásquez-Procopio J, Espejel-Nuñez A, Torres-Torres J, Martinez-Portilla RJ, Espino Y. Sosa S, Mateu-Rogell P, Ortega-Castillo V, Tolentino-Dolores M, Perichart-Perera O, Franco-Gallardo JO, Carranco-Martínez JA, Prieto-Rodríguez S, Guzmán-Huerta M, Missirlis F and Estrada-Gutierrez G (2022) Inflammatory-Metal Profile as a Hallmark for COVID-19 Severity During Pregnancy. Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 10:935363. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.935363 Johana Vásquez-Procopio 1,2, Aurora Espejel-Nuñez 1, Johnatan Torres-Torres 3, Raigam Jafet Martinez-Portilla 3, Salvador Espino Y. Sosa 3, Paloma Mateu-Rogell 3, Veronica Ortega-Castillo 4, Maricruz Tolentino-Dolores 5, Otilia Perichart-Perera 5, José Osman Franco-Gallardo 6, José Alberto Carranco-Martínez 7, Scarleth Prieto-Rodríguez 7, Mario Guzmán-Huerta 7, Fanis Missirlis 2*† and Guadalupe Estrada-Gutierrez 8*† 1 Department of Immunobiochemistry, Instituto Nacional de Perinatología, Mexico City, Mexico, 2Department of Physiology, Biophysics and Neuroscience, Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav), Mexico City, Mexico, 3Clinical Research Division, Instituto Nacional de Perinatología, Mexico City, Mexico, 4Department of Obstetrics, Instituto Nacional de Perinatología, Mexico City, Mexico, 5Department of Nutrition and Bioprogramming, Instituto Nacional de Perinatología, Mexico City, Mexico, 6 Data Science Department, Openlab, Mexico City, Mexico, 7Department of Translational Medicine, Instituto Nacional de Perinatología, Mexico City, Mexico, 8Research Division, Instituto Nacional de Perinatología, Mexico City, Mexico Pregnancy makes women more susceptible to infectious agents; however, available data on the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on pregnant women are limited. To date, inflammatory responses and changes in serum metal concentration have been reported in COVID-19 patients, but few associations between metal ions and cytokines have been described. The aim of this study was to evaluate correlations between inflammatory markers and serum metal ions in third-trimester pregnant women with varying COVID-19 disease severity. Patients with severe symptoms had increased concentrations of serum magnesium, copper, and calcium ions and decreased concentrations of iron, zinc, and sodium ions. Potassium ions were unaffected. Pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNF-α, IL8, IL-1α, anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4, and the IP-10 chemokine were induced in the severe presentation of COVID-19 during pregnancy. Robust negative correlations between iron/magnesium and zinc/IL-6, and a positive correlation between copper/IP10 were observed in pregnant women with the severe form of the disease. Thus, coordinated alterations of serum metal..