Distinct Metabolic Profile Associated with a Fatal Outcome in COVID-19 Patients during the Early Epidemic in Italy.

Abstract

In one year of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many studies have described the different metabolic changes occurring in COVID-19 patients, linking these alterations to the disease severity. However, a complete metabolic signature of the most severe cases, especially those with a fatal outcome, is still missing. Our study retrospectively analyzes the metabolome profiles of 75 COVID-19 patients with moderate and severe symptoms admitted to Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico (Lombardy Region, Italy) following SARS-CoV-2 infection between March and April 2020. Italy was the first Western country to experience COVID-19, and the Lombardy Region was the epicenter of the Italian COVID-19 pandemic. This cohort shows a higher mortality rate compared to others; therefore, it represents a unique opportunity to investigate the underlying metabolic profiles of the first COVID-19 patients in Italy and to identify the potential biomarkers related to the disease prognosis and fatal outcome. IMPORTANCE Understanding the metabolic alterations occurring during an infection is a key element for identifying potential indicators of the disease prognosis, which are fundamental for developing efficient diagnostic tools and offering the best therapeutic treatment to the patient. Here, exploiting high-throughput metabolomics data, we identified the first metabolic profile associated with a fatal outcome, not correlated with preexisting clinical conditions or the oxygen demand at the moment of diagnosis. Overall, our results contribute to a better understanding of COVID-19-related metabolic disruption and may represent a useful starting point for the identification of independent prognostic factors to be employed in therapeutic practice.

• Authors: Elisa Saccon, Alessandra Bandera, Mariarita Sciumè, Flora Mikaeloff, Abid A Lashari, Stefano Aliberti, Michael C Sachs, Filippo Billi, Francesco Blasi, Erin E Gabriel, Giorgio Costantino, Pasquale De Roberto, Shuba Krishnan, Andrea Gori, Flora Peyvandi, Luigia Scudeller, Ciro Canetta, Christian L Lorson, Luca Valenti, Kamal Singh, Luca Baldini, Nicola Stefano Fracchiolla, COVID-19 Network Working Group,, Ujjwal Neogi
• Journal: Microbiology spectrum (Microbiol Spectr) Vol. 9 Issue 2 Pg. e0054921 (10 31 2021) ISSN: 2165-0497 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 34468185 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers

Topics

• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Biomarkers (blood)
• Blood Chemical Analysis
• COVID-19 (epidemiology, mortality)
• Comorbidity
• Energy Metabolism (physiology)
• Female
• Humans
• Italy (epidemiology)
• Male
• Metabolome (physiology)
• Middle Aged
• Prognosis
• Retrospective Studies
• SARS-CoV-2