Metabolic and Lipidomic Markers Differentiate COVID-19 From Non-Hospitalized and Other Intensive Care Patients

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral infection affecting multiple organ systems of great significance for metabolic processes. Thus, there is increasing interest in metabolic and lipoprotein signatures of the disease, and early analyses have demonstrated a metabolic pattern typical for ath...

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Published in:Frontiers in molecular biosciences Vol. 8; p. 737039
Main Authors: Schmelter, Franziska, Föh, Bandik, Mallagaray, Alvaro, Rahmöller, Johann, Ehlers, Marc, Lehrian, Selina, von Kopylow, Vera, Künsting, Inga, Lixenfeld, Anne Sophie, Martin, Emily, Ragab, Mohab, Meyer-Saraei, Roza, Kreutzmann, Fabian, Eitel, Ingo, Taube, Stefan, Käding, Nadja, Jantzen, Eckard, Graf, Tobias, Sina, Christian, Günther, Ulrich L.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 02.12.2021
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ISSN:2296-889X, 2296-889X
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Summary:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral infection affecting multiple organ systems of great significance for metabolic processes. Thus, there is increasing interest in metabolic and lipoprotein signatures of the disease, and early analyses have demonstrated a metabolic pattern typical for atherosclerotic and hepatic damage in COVID-19 patients. However, it remains unclear whether this is specific for COVID-19 and whether the observed signature is caused by the disease or rather represents an underlying risk factor. To answer this question, we have analyzed 482 serum samples using nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics, including longitudinally collected samples from 12 COVID-19 and 20 cardiogenic shock intensive care patients, samples from 18 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibody-positive individuals, and single time point samples from 58 healthy controls. COVID-19 patients showed a distinct metabolic serum profile, including changes typical for severe dyslipidemia and a deeply altered metabolic status compared with healthy controls. Specifically, very-low-density lipoprotein and intermediate-density lipoprotein particles and associated apolipoprotein B and intermediate-density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly increased, whereas cholesterol and apolipoprotein A2 were decreased. Moreover, a similarly perturbed profile was apparent when compared with other patients with cardiogenic shock who are in the intensive care unit when looking at a 1-week time course, highlighting close links between COVID-19 and lipid metabolism. The metabolic profile of COVID-19 patients distinguishes those from healthy controls and also from patients with cardiogenic shock. In contrast, anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody-positive individuals without acute COVID-19 did not show a significantly perturbed metabolic profile compared with age- and sex-matched healthy controls, but SARS-CoV-2 antibody-titers correlated significantly with metabolic parameters, including levels of glycine, ApoA2, and small-sized low- and high-density lipoprotein subfractions. Our data suggest that COVID-19 is associated with dyslipidemia, which is not observed in anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody-positive individuals who have not developed severe courses of the disease. This suggests that lipoprotein profiles may represent a confounding risk factor for COVID-19 with potential for patient stratification.
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Reviewed by: Sander Kooijman, Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands
Toby James Athersuch, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
These authors have contributed equally to this work and share senior authorship
These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship
This article was submitted to Metabolomics, a section of the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
Edited by: Emmanuel Mikros, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
ISSN:2296-889X
2296-889X
DOI:10.3389/fmolb.2021.737039