Update: Mannose, a biomarker of severe COVID-19

During the flu pandemic, patients with cardiovascular disease and obesity are at a significantly higher risk of suffering from the very serious and even fatal COVID-19 disease

The coronavirus pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has triggered a serious and ongoing global health crisis

All viruses are spread through “piggyback” on substances and processes that are vital to cell energy supply and metabolic pathways.

metabolic pathway

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute have now examined which parts of the cell’s energy supply are particularly important for SARS-CoV-2 and how they affect the severity of the disease

Coronavirus is known to use the metabolic pathway AKT/mTOR/HIF-1, and new research supplements this understanding

Researchers have found that glycolysis and glutamine hydrolysis are the metabolic pathways that viruses "prefer" when they attack the lungs

"Research shows that when SARS-CoV-2 infects lung cells, glycolysis and glutamine hydrolysis play an important role in its spread and growth," said Ujjwal Neogi, the last author of the paper and a researcher in the Department of Laboratory Medicine.

One of the main findings of the study is a biomarker of disease severity

"We have identified a carbohydrate, mannose, as a biomarker for severe COVID-19,

Stop the spread of the virus

Researchers say that more knowledge is needed about the elevated levels of toxic metabolites in critically ill patients

Changes in these metabolites can have lasting effects on insulin resistance, neurocognitive impairment, and organ failure

The possible treatment strategy of starving the virus to death by cell energy supply to prevent the spread of the virus may also prove to be an effective treatment for the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus.

The results are based on the blood samples of 41 COVID-19 patients, using various techniques including plasma metabolomics for analysis

“ Metabolic perturbation associated with COVID?19 disease severity and SARS?CoV-2 replication” , Shuba Krishnan, Hampus Nordqvist, Anoop T.