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Published on: October 12, 2017
High-density lipoproteins may play a crucial role in COVID-19
Minu Nain1, Apoorv Gupta1, Sumit Malhotra2
1National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi, 110 077, India.
Insights
High-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels were severely low in most COVID-19 patients studied. This suggests HDL plays a crucial role in COVID-19 infection and outcomes, warranting further investigation for disease management.
Area of Science:
- Virology
- Biochemistry
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Lipids are vital in viral life cycles and potential antiviral targets.
- High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is implicated in cardiovascular and infectious diseases.
- Serum lipids like HDL, LDL, and triglycerides are studied in viral infections, including COVID-19.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the role of host lipids and lipoproteins in COVID-19 pathogenesis.
- To investigate lipid profiles, specifically HDL, in COVID-19 patients.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of serum samples from 75 COVID-19 positive patients and 10 controls.
- Lipid profiling including total cholesterol (TC), HDL, LDL, VLDL, and triglycerides (TG).
Main Results:
- 65% of COVID-19 patients exhibited severely low HDL levels; 35% had moderately low HDL.
- Nearly all patients had normal total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels.
- Controls showed moderately low HDL, but no severely low HDL levels.
Conclusions:
- Severely low HDL levels are prevalent in COVID-19 patients.
- HDL likely plays a critical role in COVID-19 infection and patient outcomes.
- Further research is needed to understand the causal relationship between HDL and COVID-19 for improved disease management.
Background:
Lipids play a central role in the virus life cycle and are a crucial target to develop antiviral therapeutics. Importantly, among the other lipoproteins, the 'good cholesterol' high-density lipoprotein (HDL) has been widely studied for its role in not only cardiovascular but several infectious diseases as well. Studies have suggested a role of serum lipids and lipoproteins including HDL, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) in several viral infections including COVID-19. This disease is currently a major public health problem and there is a need to explore the role of these host lipids/lipoproteins in virus pathogenesis.
Methodology:
A total of 75 retrospective COVID-19 positive serum samples and 10 COVID-19 negative controls were studied for their lipid profiles including TC, HDL, LDL, and very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), and TG.
Results:
Systematic literature search on dyslipidemia status in India shows that low HDL is the most common dyslipidemia. In this cohort, 65% (49) of COVID-19 patients had severely low HDL levels whereas 35% (26) had moderately low HDL and none had normal HDL levels. On the other hand, ~ 96% of samples had normal TC (72) and LDL (72) levels. VLDL and TG levels were also variable. In the controls, 100% of samples had moderately low HDL but none severely low HDL levels.
Conclusion:
HDL likely plays a crucial role in COVID-19 infection and outcomes. The causal relationships between HDL levels and COVID-19 need to be studied extensively for an understanding of disease pathogenesis and management.
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