Revealed: Why severe COVID-19 infections are more common in people with diabetes
Researchers think they have identified why so many people with diabetes develop severe illness from a COVID-19 infection, sharing their findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
The underlying issue, it seems, is SETDB2, an enzyme that has previously been associated with inflammatory wounds among people with diabetes. Specialists at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor determined that mice with COVID-19 had lower levels of this enzyme in their immune cells—and the same thing was seen in infected humans with diabetes as well.
Lower levels of SETDB2, the researchers found, were associated with inflammation going up.
The team also found that blood serum from hospitalized patients with diabetes and COVID-19 had lower levels of interferon-beta. This realization, they hope, may help the researchers develop a new treatment option.
“Interferon has been studied throughout the pandemic as a potential therapy, with efforts going back and forth between trying to increase or decrease interferon levels,” senior author Katherine Gallagher, MD, with the university’s departments of surgery and microbiology, said in a prepared statement. “My sense is that its efficacy as a therapy will be both patient and timing specific.”
The group’s findings should pave the way for other research teams hoping to tackle this crucial topic.
“Our research is showing that maybe if we are able to target patients with diabetes with interferon, especially early in their infection, that may actually make a big difference,” lead author William J. Melvin, MD, of the university’s department of surgery, said in the same statement.
Read the full analysis here.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.