The Role of Lipid Metabolism in COVID-19 Virus Infection and as a Drug Target

Abstract

The current Coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic has infected over two million people and resulted in the death of over one hundred thousand people at the time of writing this review. The disease is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Even though multiple vaccines and treatments are under development so far, the disease is only slowing down under extreme social distancing measures that are difficult to maintain. SARS-COV-2 is an enveloped virus that is surrounded by a lipid bilayer. Lipids are fundamental cell components that play various biological roles ranging from being a structural building block to a signaling molecule as well as a central energy store. The role lipids play in viral infection involves the fusion of the viral membrane to the host cell, viral replication, and viral endocytosis and exocytosis. Since lipids play a crucial function in the viral life cycle, we asked whether drugs targeting lipid metabolism, such as statins, can be utilized against SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses. In this review, we discuss the role of lipid metabolism in viral infection as well as the possibility of targeting lipid metabolism to interfere with the viral life cycle.

Changes to the sebum lipidome upon COVID-19 infection observed via non-invasive and rapid sampling from the skin

“…As a coronavirus requiring lipids for reproduction, COVID-19 can be expected to disrupt the lipidome. 15 Evidence of dysregulated lipidomes have recently been observed in patients with COVID-19 via analyses of blood plasma and also by lipidomic analysis of nasopharyngeal swabs, 16,17 and dysregulation of the skin would be consistent with the ability of canines to differentiate COVID-19 positive and negative by smell. 18 Lipidomics therefore offers a promising route to better understanding of -and potentially diagnosis and prognosis for -COVID-19.…”

Serum lipid profile changes and their clinical diagnostic significance in COVID-19 Mexican Patients

“…Also, SARS-CoV-2 regulates the lipidic metabolism to generate viral membrane and pack its genome and in the exocytosis of the virions 40,41 . For this reason, a growing recent interest in the lipids changes research has been noted in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, since people with metabolic diseases such as DM, HT, and obesity, possibly leading to a higher risk of complications and mortality from COVID-19 42,43 . Our study found high frequencies of comorbidities alone or in combination, such as HT, DM, and obesity in COVID-19 patients.…”

Biomimetic Virus-like Particles as SARS-CoV-2 Positive Controls for RT-PCR Diagnostics

“…As a benchmark, the encapsidated RNAs within the positive controls were extracted using QIAGEN QIAamp Viral RNA mini kit; the procedure followed CDC recommendations. One difference to note between SARS-CoV-2 and our control probes is that SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped virus, 49 but our control probes based of Qβ and CCMV are non-enveloped viruses.…”