ArticleCellular signalling2021
A novel hypothesis for COVID-19 pathogenesis: Retinol depletion and retinoid signaling disorder.
Article in Cellular signalling, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Combining label-free Raman spectroscopy with machine learning to monitor COVID-19 disease from acute infection to recovery.Journal of biomedical optics · 2026Article
- KDDC: a new framework that integrates kmers, dataset filtering, dimension reduction and classification algorithms to achieve immune cell heterogeneity classification.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Retinol and retinol binding protein 4 levels and COVID-19: a Mendelian randomization study.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2024Article
- Generic model to unravel the deeper insights of viral infections: an empirical application of evolutionary graph coloring in computational network biology.BMC bioinformatics · 2024Article
- Retinol Levels and Severity of Patients with COVID-19.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Using system biology and bioinformatics to identify the influences of COVID-19 co-infection with influenza virus on COPD.Functional & integrative genomics · 2023Article
- Comprehensive investigation of pathway enrichment methods for functional interpretation of LC-MS global metabolomics data.Briefings in bioinformatics · 2023Article
- Case report: A case of Acute Macular Neuroretinopathy secondary to Influenza A virus during Long COVID.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Vitamin A Deficiency, COVID-19, and Rhino-Orbital Mucormycosis (Black Fungus): An Analytical Perspective.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2023Article
- Bioinformatics approach to analyse COVID-19 biomarkers accountable for generation of intracranial aneurysm in COVID-19 patients.Informatics in medicine unlocked · 2023Article
- Single-Cell Transcriptome Analysis Reveals the Role of Pancreatic Secretome in COVID-19 Associated Multi-organ Dysfunctions.Interdisciplinary sciences, computational life sciences · 2022Article
- Vitamin E and Metabolic Health: Relevance of Interactions with Other Micronutrients.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- A Pilot Study to Examine If Dietary Habits Can Affect Symptomology in Mild Pre-Vaccination COVID-19 Cases.Biology · 2022Article
- Vitamin C Deficiency in Blood Samples of COVID-19 Patients.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- In-silico screening and in-vitro assay show the antiviral effect of Indomethacin against SARS-CoV-2.Computers in biology and medicine · 2022Article
- Retinol Depletion in COVID-19.Clinical nutrition open science · 2022Article
- Significantly Reduced Retinol Binding Protein 4 (RBP4) Levels in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients.Nutrients · 2022Observational
- Prevalence of Micronutrient Deficiencies in Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19: An Observational Cohort Study.Nutrients · 2022Observational
- A scoping review of regulatory T cell dynamics in convalescent COVID-19 patients - indications for their potential involvement in the development of Long COVID?Frontiers in immunology · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 virus has caused a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. In less than a year and a half, more than 200 million people have been infected and more than four million have died. Despite some improvement in the treatment strategies, no definitive treatment protocol has been developed. The pathogenesis of the disease has not been clearly elucidated yet. A clear understanding of its pathogenesis will help develop effective vaccines and drugs. The immunopathogenesis of COVID-19 is characteristic with acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiorgan involvement with impaired Type I interferon response and hyperinflammation. The destructive systemic effects of COVID-19 cannot be explained simply by the viral tropism through the ACE2 and TMPRSS2 receptors. In addition, the recently identified mutations cannot fully explain the defect in all cases of Type I interferon synthesis. We hypothesize that retinol depletion and resulting impaired retinoid signaling play a central role in the COVID-19 pathogenesis that is characteristic for dysregulated immune system, defect in Type I interferon synthesis, severe inflammatory process, and destructive systemic multiorgan involvement. Viral RNA recognition mechanism through RIG-I receptors can quickly consume a large amount of the body's retinoid reserve, which causes the retinol levels to fall below the normal serum levels. This causes retinoid insufficiency and impaired retinoid signaling, which leads to interruption in Type I interferon synthesis and an excessive inflammation. Therefore, reconstitution of the retinoid signaling may prove to be a valid strategy for management of COVID-19 as well for some other chronic, degenerative, inflammatory, and autoimmune diseases.
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