Glutamine-Driven Metabolic Adaptation to COVID-19 Infection.

Background: COVID-19 is known to be transmitted by direct contact, droplets or feces/orally. There are many factors which determines the clinical progression of the disease. Aminoacid disturbance in viral disease is shown in many studies. In this study we aimed to evaluate the change of aminoacid metabolism especially the aspartate, glutamine and glycine levels which have been associated with an immune defence effect in viral disease. Methods: Blood samples from 35 volunteer patients with COVID-19, concretized diagnosis was made by oropharyngeal from nazofaringeal swab specimens and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and 35 control group were analyzed. The amino acid levels were measured with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry technology. Two groups were compared by Kolmogorov-Smirnov analysis, Kruskal-Wallis and the Mann-Whitney U. The square test was used to evaluate the tests obtained by counting, and the error level was taken as 0.05. Results: The average age of the patient and control group were 48.5 ± 14.9 and 48.8 ± 14.6 years respectively. The decrease in aspartate (p = 5.5 × 10-9) and glutamine levels (p = 9.0 × 10-17) were significiantly in COVID group, whereas Glycine (p = 0.243) increase was not significiant. Conclusions: Metabolic pathways, are affected in rapidly dividing cells in viral diseases which are important for immun defence. We determined that aspartate, glutamine and glycine levels in Covid 19 patients were affected by the warburg effect, malate aspartate shuttle, glutaminolysis and pentose phosphate pathway. Enteral or parenteral administration of these plasma amino acid levels will correct the duration and pathophysiology of the patients' stay in hospital and intensive care.

Association between iron metabolism and SARS-COV-2 infection, determined by ferritin, hephaestin and hypoxia-induced factor-1 alpha levels in COVID-19 patients.

BACKGROUND: Due to the growing evidence of the importance of iron status in immune responses, the biomarkers of iron metabolism are of interest in novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The present prospective study was carried out to compare iron status indicated by levels of ferritin with the levels of two novel biomarkers related to iron homeostasis, hephaestin and hypoxia-inducible factors-1 (HIF-1α) in the serum of patients with COVID-19 in comparison with a control group. METHODS AND RESULTS: Blood samples from 34 COVID-19 patients and from 43 healthy volunteers were collected and the levels of HEPH and HIF-1α were measured by ELISA and compared with levels of serum ferritin. COVID-19 patients had higher serum levels of ferritin than those levels in control group (P < 0.0001). Conversely levels of HIF-1α and HEPH in the COVID-19 group were significantly lower than those of control group (P < 0.0001 for both). An inverse correlation between hephaestin and ferritin as well as between HIF-1α and ferritin was found among all subjects (P < 0.0001), and among COVID-19 patients, but not to statistical significance. CONCLUSION: Levels of hephaestin and HIF-1α were found to be inversely related levels of ferritin across all participants in the study, and to our knowledge this is the first report of hephaestin and HIF-1α as potential markers of iron status. Further studies are needed to corroborate the findings, utilizing a broader range of markers to monitor inflammatory as well as iron status.

Glutamine-Driven Metabolic Adaptation to COVID-19 Infection

Background COVID-19 is known to be transmitted by direct contact, droplets or feces/orally. There are many factors which determines the clinical progression of the disease. Aminoacid disturbance in viral disease is shown in many studies. Ín this study we aimed to evaluate the change of aminoacid metabolism especially the aspartate, glutamine and glycine levels which have been associated with an immune defence effect in viral disease. Methods Blood samples from 35 volunteer patients with COVID-19, concretized diagnosis was made by oropharyngeal from nazofaringeal swab specimens and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and 35 control group were analyzed. The amino acid levels were measured with liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry technology. Two groups were compared by Kolmogorov–Smirnov analysis, Kruskal–Wallis and the Mann–Whitney U. The square test was used to evaluate the tests obtained by counting, and the error level was taken as 0.05. Results The average age of the patient and control group were 48.5 ± 14.9 and 48.8 ± 14.6 years respectively. The decrease in aspartate (p = 5.5 × 10−9) and glutamine levels (p = 9.0 × 10−17) were significiantly in COVID group, whereas Glycine (p = 0.243) increase was not significiant. Conclusions Metabolic pathways, are affected in rapidly dividing cells in viral diseases which are important for immun defence. We determined that aspartate, glutamine and glycine levels in Covid 19 patients were affected by the warburg effect, malate aspartate shuttle, glutaminolysis and pentose phosphate pathway. Enteral or parenteral administration of these plasma amino acid levels will correct the duration and pathophysiology of the patients' stay in hospital and intensive care.

Vitamin-D Binding Protein Gene Polymorphisms and Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin-D in a Turkish Population.

The rs7041 and rs4588 polymorphisms found in the GC gene, encoding vitamin D-binding protein (DBP), have distinct biochemical phenotypes. The aim of this study was to investigate vitamin D parameters with these polymorphisms, in individuals with possible vitamin D deficiency. The most common (49% of the cohort) genotype in rs7041 was GT, especially among individuals with high levels of free 25(OH)D calculated but with low levels of bioavailable 25(OH)D, and in rs4588 it was AC in particular among the individuals with low levels of bioavailable 25(OH)D. The most common phenotypes were Gc1s/2 (35.3%) and Gc1s/1s (31.4%), and Gc1f/1f was rare (5.9%). The variations in free and bioavailable 25(OH)D levels among healthy Turkish individuals may be attributed to the variations in total 25(OH)D as well as GC gene polymorphisms. The Turkish population shares a similarity for allele frequencies of rs7041 with the European population and similarity for allele frequencies of rs4588 with Gujarati Indians, and this may also be important in relation to certain ethnic populations showing associations between vitamin D and COVID-19.

Correlation between interleukin gene polymorphisms and current prevalence and mortality rates due to novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) in 23 countries.

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection may rely on a potential genetic background for the variations in the inflammatory response. We aimed to investigate the possible correlation between polymorphisms in the IL-6 gene at rs1800796/rs1800795, in IL-6R at rs2228145, in IL-10 at rs1800896 and rs1800871, in IL-17 at rs2275913 and rs763780 loci, and COVID-19 prevalence and mortality rates among populations of 23 countries. METHODS: We searched the literature for polymorphisms in China, Japan, India, Spain, Mexico, Sweden, Turkey, Brazil, Russia, Poland, Italy, South Africa, Netherlands, Greece, Germany, UK, Iran, Finland, Czechia, Tunisia, Norway, Egypt, Croatia. We recorded the prevalence and mortality rates (per million) caused by the Coronavirus infection recorded on 7th September 2020 and 6th December 2020. RESULTS: There was a significant positive correlation between the frequency of AG genotype of rs1800896 and prevalence recorded on 6th December 2020 (r: 0.53, r2 : 0.28, p < .05). There was a significant negative correlation between the mortality rates recorded on 7th September, and the AG genotype of rs2275913 (r: -0.51, r2 : 0.26, p < .05). There was a significant positive correlation between the prevalence recorded on 6th December, and TT genotype at rs763780 (r: 0.65, r2 :0.42, p < .05) while a negative correlation between prevalence and TC genotype at rs763780 (r: -0.66, r2 : 0.43, p < .05). Also, a significant negative correlation was found between mortality rates recorded on 6th December 2020 and CC genotype at rs763780 (r: -0.56, r2 : 0.31, p < .05). CONCLUSION: The variations in prevalence of COVID-19 and its mortality rates among countries may be explained by the polymorphisms at rs1800896 in IL-10, rs2275913 in IL-17A, and rs763780 loci in the IL-17F gene.

The role of DBP gene polymorphisms in the prevalence of new coronavirus disease 2019 infection and mortality rate.

Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has given rise to emerging respiratory infections with pandemic diffusion. The vitamin D binding protein (DBP) with emphasis on its regulation of total and free vitamin D metabolite levels participate in various clinical conditions. The main goal of this study was to evaluate if there was any association between the DBP gene polymorphism at rs7041 and rs4588 loci and the prevalence of COVID-19 and its mortality rates caused among populations of 10 countries including Turkey. Positive significant correlations were found between the prevalence (per million) and mortality rates (per million), and GT genotype (P < .05) while there was a negative significant correlation between prevalence (per million) and mortality rates (per million), and TT genotype at rs7041 locus among all populations (P < .05). However, no significant correlation was found at rs4588 locus. GT genotype was found to confer this susceptibility to the populations of Germany, Mexico, Italy, Czech, and Turkey. The variations in the prevalence of COVID-19 and its mortality rates among countries may be explained by Vitamin D metabolism differed by the DBP polymorphisms of rs7041 and rs4588.