ArticleMedical hypotheses2023
Adipocytes in obesity: A perfect reservoir for SARS-CoV-2?
Article in Medical hypotheses, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lipid metabolism, viral infection, and antiviral immunity: a new host-pathogen interface.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Addressing Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome in Cancer Patients, from Visceral Obesity and Myosteatosis to Systemic Inflammation: Implications in Cardio-Onco-Metabolism.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- Long COVID as a Tauopathy: Of "Brain Fog" and "Fusogen Storms".International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Research evidence suggests that adipocytes in obesity might facilitate SARS-CoV-2 replication, for it was only found in adipose tissue of individuals with overweight or obesity but not lean individuals who died from COVID-19. As lipid metabolism is key to adipocyte function, and viruses are capable of exploiting and manipulating lipid metabolism of host cells for their own benefit of infection, we hypothesize that adipocytes could not only impair host immune defense against viral infection, but also facilitate SARS-CoV-2 entry, replication and assembly as a reservoir to boost the viral infection in obesity. The latter of which could mainly be mediated by SARS-CoV-2 hijacking the abnormal lipid metabolism in the adipocytes. If these were to be confirmed, an approach to combat COVID-19 in people with obesity by taking advantage of the abnormal lipid metabolism in adipocytes might be considered, as well as modifying lipid metabolism of other host cells as a potential adjunctive treatment for COVID-19.
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Registered trials
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.