Zinc as a Drug for Wilson's Disease, Non-Alcoholic Liver Disease and COVID-19-Related Liver Injury.

Abstract

Zinc is the second most abundant trace element in the human body, and it plays a fundamental role in human physiology, being an integral component of hundreds of enzymes and transcription factors. The discovery that zinc atoms may compete with copper for their absorption in the gastrointestinal tract let to introduce zinc in the therapy of Wilson's disease, a congenital disorder of copper metabolism characterized by a systemic copper storage. Nowadays, zinc salts are considered one of the best therapeutic approach in patients affected by Wilson's disease. On the basis of the similarities, at histological level, between Wilson's disease and non-alcoholic liver disease, zinc has been successfully introduced in the therapy of non-alcoholic liver disease, with positive effects both on insulin resistance and oxidative stress. Recently, zinc deficiency has been indicated as a possible factor responsible for the susceptibility of elderly patients to undergo infection by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we present the data correlating zinc deficiency with the insurgence and progression of Covid-19 with low zinc levels associated with severe disease states. Finally, the relevance of zinc supplementation in aged people at risk for SARS-CoV-2 is underlined, with the aim that the zinc-based drug, classically used in the treatment of copper overload, might be recorded as one of the tools reducing the mortality of COVID-19, particularly in elderly people.

• Authors: Pierpaolo Coni, Giuseppina Pichiri, Joanna Izabela Lachowicz, Alberto Ravarino, Francesca Ledda, Daniela Fanni, Clara Gerosa, Monica Piras, Ferdinando Coghe, Yukio Gibo, Flaviana Cau, Massimo Castagnola, Peter Van Eyken, Luca Saba, Marco Piludu, Gavino Faa
• Journal: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) (Molecules) Vol. 26 Issue 21 (Oct 31 2021) ISSN: 1420-3049 [Electronic] Switzerland
• PMID: 34771023 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Chelating Agents
• Copper
• Zinc

Topics

• COVID-19 (complications)
• Chelating Agents (metabolism)
• Copper (metabolism)
• Hepatolenticular Degeneration (complications, drug therapy, metabolism)
• Humans
• Liver (drug effects, injuries, metabolism)
• Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (drug therapy, metabolism)
• SARS-CoV-2 (pathogenicity)
• Zinc (deficiency, metabolism, pharmacology)
• COVID-19 Drug Treatment