• FluTrackers.com Inc. does not provide medical advice. Information on this web site is collected from various internet resources, and the FluTrackers board of directors makes no warranty to the safety, efficacy, correctness or completeness of the information posted on this site by any author or poster. The information collated here is for instructional and/or discussion purposes only and is NOT intended to diagnose or treat any disease, illness, or other medical condition. Every individual reader or poster should seek advice from their personal physician/healthcare practitioner before considering or using any interventions that are discussed on this website. By continuing to access this website you agree to consult your personal physican before using any interventions posted on this website, and you agree to hold harmless FluTrackers.com Inc., the board of directors, the members, and all authors and posters for any effects from use of any medication, supplement, vitamin or other substance, device, intervention, etc. mentioned in posts on this website, or other internet venues referenced in posts on this website.
  • We are not asking for any donations. Do not donate to any entity who says they are raising funds for us.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . Apple-shaped obesity: A risky soil for cytokine-accelerated severity in COVID-19

tetano

Editor, Senior Moderator
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A


. 2023 May 30;120(22):e2300155120.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2300155120. Epub 2023 May 22. Apple-shaped obesity: A risky soil for cytokine-accelerated severity in COVID-19

Tadashi Hosoya[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Seiya Oba[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yoji Komiya[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Daisuke Kawata[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mari Kamiya[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Hideyuki Iwai[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sho Miyamoto[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Michiyo Kataoka[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Minoru Tobiume[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Takayuki Kanno[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Akira Ainai[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Hiroyuki Sato[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Akihiro Hirakawa[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Yuichi Mitsui[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Takashi Satoh[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Kenji Wakabayashi[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Tetsuya Yamada[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Yasuhiro Otomo[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Yasunari Miyazaki[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Hideki Hasegawa[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Tadaki Suzuki[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Shinsuke Yasuda[SUP] 1 [/SUP]



Affiliations
Abstract

Obesity has been recognized as one of the most significant risk factors for the deterioration and mortality associated with COVID-19, but the significance of obesity itself differs among ethnicity. Multifactored analysis of our single institute-based retrospective cohort revealed that high visceral adipose tissue (VAT) burden, but not other obesity-associated markers, was related to accelerated inflammatory responses and the mortality of Japanese COVID-19 patients. To elucidate the mechanisms how VAT-dominant obesity induces severe inflammation after severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, we infected two different strains of obese mice, C57BL/6JHamSlc-ob/ob (ob/ob), C57BLKS/J-db/db (db/db), genetically impaired in the leptin ligand and receptor, respectively, and control C57BL/6 mice with mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2. Here, we revealed that VAT-dominant ob/ob mice were extremely more vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 due to excessive inflammatory responses when compared to SAT-dominant db/db mice. In fact, SARS-CoV-2 genome and proteins were more abundant in the lungs of ob/ob mice, engulfed in macrophages, resulting in increased cytokine production including interleukin (IL)-6. Both an anti-IL-6 receptor antibody treatment and the prevention of obesity by leptin replenishment improved the survival of SARS-CoV-2-infected ob/ob mice by reducing the viral protein burden and excessive immune responses. Our results have proposed unique insights and clues on how obesity increases the risk of cytokine storm and death in patients with COVID-19. Moreover, earlier administration of antiinflammatory therapeutics including anti-IL-6R antibody to VAT-dominant patients might improve clinical outcome and stratification of the treatment for COVID-19, at least in Japanese patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; abdominal adiposity; cytokine storm; obesity; risk factor.

 
Back
Top Bottom