The complex combination of COVID-19 and diabetes: pleiotropic changes in glucose metabolism

PURPOSE: Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the door for SARS-CoV-2, expressed in critical metabolic tissues. So, it is rational that the new virus causes pleiotropic alterations in glucose metabolism, resulting in the complication of pre-existing diabetes’s pathophysiology or creating new disease mechanisms. However, it seems that less attention has been paid to this issue. This review aimed to highlight the importance of long-term consequences and pleiotropic alterations in glucose metabolism following COVID-19 and emphasize the need for basic and clinical research in metabolism and endocrinology. RESULTS: SARS-CoV-2 shifts cellular metabolism from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis, which leads to a decrease in ATP generation. Together with metabolic imbalance, the impaired immune system elevates the susceptibility of patients with diabetes to this deadly virus. SARS-CoV-2-induced metabolic alterations in immune cells can result in hyper inflammation and a cytokine storm. Metabolic dysfunction may affect therapies against SARS-CoV-2 infection. The effective control of metabolic complications could prove useful therapeutic targets for combating COVID-19. It is also necessary to understand the long-term consequences that will affect patients with diabetes who survived COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: Since the pathophysiology of COVID-19 is still mostly unknown, identifying the metabolic mechanisms contributing to its progression is essential to provide specific ways to prevent and improve this dangerous virus’s detrimental effects. The findings show that the new virus may induce new-onset diabetes with uncertain metabolic and clinical features, supporting a potential role of COVID-19 in the development of diabetes.