The
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a worldwide health emergency. Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 present with diverse symptoms related to the severity of the disease. Determining the proteomic changes associated with these diverse symptoms and in different stages of
infection is beneficial for clinical diagnosis and management. Here, we performed a tandem mass tag-labeling proteomic study on the plasma of healthy controls and
COVID-19 patients, including those with
asymptomatic infection (NS), mild syndrome, and severe syndrome in the early phase and the later phase. Although the number of patients included in each group is low, our comparative proteomic analysis revealed that
complement and coagulation cascades,
cholesterol metabolism, and glycolysis-related
proteins were affected after
infection with SARS-CoV-2. Compared to healthy controls, ELISA analysis confirmed that SOD1, PRDX2, and LDHA levels were increased in the patients with severe symptoms. Both gene set enrichment analysis and receiver operator characteristic analysis indicated that SOD1 could be a pivotal
indicator for the severity of
COVID-19. Our results indicated that plasma
proteome changes differed based on the symptoms and disease stages and SOD1 could be a predictor
protein for indicating
COVID-19 progression. These results may also provide a new understanding for
COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment.