Metabolic alterations upon SARS-CoV-2 infection and potential therapeutic targets against coronavirus infection.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infection has become a global pandemic due to the high viral transmissibility and pathogenesis, bringing enormous burden to our society. Most patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. Although only a small proportion of patients progressed to severe COVID-19 with symptoms including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), disseminated coagulopathy, and cardiovascular disorders, severe COVID-19 is accompanied by high mortality rates with near 7 million deaths. Nowadays, effective therapeutic patterns for severe COVID-19 are still lacking. It has been extensively reported that host metabolism plays essential roles in various physiological processes during virus infection. Many viruses manipulate host metabolism to avoid immunity, facilitate their own replication, or to initiate pathological response. Targeting the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and host metabolism holds promise for developing therapeutic strategies. In this review, we summarize and discuss recent studies dedicated to uncovering the role of host metabolism during the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2 in aspects of entry, replication, assembly, and pathogenesis with an emphasis on glucose metabolism and lipid metabolism. Microbiota and long COVID-19 are also discussed. Ultimately, we recapitulate metabolism-modulating drugs repurposed for COVID-19 including statins, ASM inhibitors, NSAIDs, Montelukast, omega-3 fatty acids, 2-DG, and metformin.

Interrupted-time-series analysis of the immediate impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on preterm birth in China.

Preliminary evidence from China and other countries has suggested that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mitigation measures have caused a decline in preterm births, but evidence is conflicting. Utilising a national representative data of 11,714,947 pregnant women in China, we explored the immediate changes in preterm birth rates during the COVID-19 mitigation period using an interrupted-time-series analysis. We defined the period prior to February 1, 2020 as the baseline, followed by the COVID-19 mitigation stage. In the first month of the COVID-19 mitigation, a significant absolute decrease in preterm birth rates of 0.68% (95%CI:-1.10% to -0.26%) in singleton, and of 2.80% (95%CI:-4.51% to -1.09%) in multiple births was noted. This immediate decline in Wuhan was greater than that at the national level among singleton births [-2.21% (95%CI:-4.09% to -0.34% vs. -0.68%)]. Here we report an immediate impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on preterm birth in China.