SARS-CoV-2 may cause diabetes in healthy people; scientists build diabetes monitoring database

Reporter : He Liping

Publisher : The Paper

Ref : http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2020/6/441969.shtm

Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan

                                 / KUCINTA SETIA 

Image courtesy : Endocrineweb

More and more academic research and clinical evidence from covid patients indicate that SARS-CoV-2 will destroy the body's insulin-producing cells, thereby making healthy people suffer from diabetes. To this end, scientists have begun to set up a database to collect information about COVID-19 (covid, in short) and hyperglycemic patients without a history of diabetes or blood sugar control problems.

For most people with type 1 diabetes, the body's immune cells start to destroy the cells in the pancreas, which are the cells responsible for producing the hormone insulin. This process is usually sudden. Diabetes has been considered as a key risk factor for severe new crown infection, and patients with diabetes are more likely to die. "Nature" quoted Paul Zimmet, a metabolic disease scholar at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, saying, "If you are infected with covid, diabetes is fatal."

Now, more and more researchers, including Zimmet, believe that diabetes not only makes people more susceptible to coronavirus, but this virus may also cause diabetes in some people.

It is worth noting that on 19 June, an international group of 20 top experts in the field of diabetes and endocrinology, including the Director of the Department of Endocrinology of Peking University People’s Hospital and the Director of Peking University Diabetes Center, Professor Ji Linong,  published "practical suggestions for the management of patients with new coronavirus infection and diabetes" in The Lancet. According to the paper, elderly diabetes patients with covid have a higher risk of dying from the disease. At the same time, covi may actually promote normal people to become new-onset diabetes.

In fact, previous scientific findings have shown that various viruses, including SARS-CoV, are associated with autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes. Many organs involved in blood sugar control are rich in a protein called ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme 2), which is also the receptor used by SARS-CoV-2 to infect cells.

The latest clue comes from an experimental study published last week of culturing the pancreas in a small laboratory. The study showed that the virus may cause diabetes by destroying cells that control blood sugar. But other researchers are cautious. Naveed Sattar, a metabolic disease researcher at the University of Glasgow in the UK, said, "We still need to pay close attention to the incidence of diabetes in people with a history of covid and determine whether the incidence exceeds the expected level."

Abd Tahrani, a clinical scientist at the University of Birmingham in the UK, said that in order to establish a connection between the two, researchers need stronger evidence. He said, "Need to conduct well-structured epidemiological cohort studies as well as mechanism and experimental studies."

An initiative to establish a database of new crown patients with diabetes data is underway. Earlier in June, an international team of scientists, including Zimmet, established a global database to collect information about patients with covid and hyperglycemia who had no history of diabetes or blood sugar control issues.

Stefan Bornstein, a physician at the Technical University of Dresden in Germany, also participated in the establishment of the database. He said similar cases began to slowly appear. The researchers hope to use these cases to understand whether SARS-CoV-2 will induce type 1 diabetes or a new type of diabetes. They wanted to investigate whether the sudden onset of diabetes would become permanent in covid patients. They also want to know whether the virus will turn patients who are already developing type 2 diabetes into diabetic patients.

Studies on pancreas organoids have shown how SARS-CoV-2 damages pancreatic tissue. The stem cell biology team at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York proved that viruses can infect organoids and cells, and some of them will die. Cells produce insulin to lower blood sugar levels, while cells produce glucagon, which raises blood sugar. According to a study published in the journal Cell Stem Cell on 19 June, this virus can also induce the production of proteins such as chemokines and cytokines, which can trigger an immunity response that kills cells.

Experiments show that covi can destroy the function of key cells related to diabetes-by directly killing them or triggering an immune response that attacks them. The virus also attacked pancreas and liver organoid cells transplanted into mice. When the liver senses insulin, it is very important in storing and releasing sugar into the blood.