Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33983857›Full record

ArticleViral immunology

Liver Damage and Exposure to Toxic Concentrations of Endogenous Retinoids in the Pathogenesis of COVID-19 Disease: Hypothesis.

Anthony R Mawson, Ashley M Croft, Federico Gonzalez-Fernandez

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Viral immunology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Essential metals, vitamins and antioxidant enzyme activities in COVID-19 patients and their potential associations with the disease severity.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2022
    Article
  5. Hepatic Disorders and COVID-19: From Pathophysiology to Treatment Strategy.Canadian journal of gastroenterology & hepatology · 2022
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Anthony R MawsonDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Health Sciences, Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi, USA.
Ashley M CroftSchool of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom.
Federico Gonzalez-FernandezDepartment of Ophthalmology and Pathology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi, USA.
Mississippi State Department of Health · USUniversity of Mississippi Medical Center · USUniversity of Portsmouth · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has a marked tropism for the biliary tract; it damages the bile ducts and hepatocytes and can lead to liver decompensation, cirrhosis, and sepsis. The pathogenesis of liver damage and its association with damage to the lung, heart, and brain and to the other protean manifestations of COVID-19 disease are not fully understood. In particular, tissue damage from thinning and leaky blood vessels appears to result from an inflammatory response to the virus rather than the virus itself. This article outlines a new hypothesis of the nature of the inflammatory factor responsible for tissue damage in COVID-19. Review of the literature reveals that COVID-19 disease closely resembles an endogenous form of hypervitaminosis A. We propose that SARS-CoV-2 virus-induced liver damage causes retinoic acid and stored retinyl esters to be released into the circulation in toxic concentrations, unbound to protein, with resulting damage to organs including the lungs, heart, blood vessels, and skin. Several lines of evidence support this model of disease causation. Subject to testing, strategies for the effective treatment and prevention of COVID-19 could include targeting the action and accumulation of retinoids.

Indexed as

SARS-CoV-2Adrenal Cortex HormonesCOVID-19HumansLiver CirrhosisLiver DiseasesNon-alcoholic Fatty Liver DiseaseRetinoidsAdrenal Cortex HormonesRetinoidsCOVID-19livermetabolic syndromepathogenesispathologyretinoidsSARS-CoV-2vitamin A

Identifiers

PMID33983857
PMCPMC8392079
OpenAlexW3161127854

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.