Study claims people suffering from Type-2 diabetes develop severe COVID-related illness

A recent finding has revealed why people with high blood sugar develop severe COVID-19. A team of international clinical researchers has tried to shed light on the mechanism behind cytokine storms during coronavirus infection. The research found that over 10 per cent of the US population has been suffering from Type 2 diabetes, a condition that contributes to triggering the risk factor during COVID-19 illness. During the research, it was found that the main enzyme responsible for triggering severe conditions was SETDB 2, the same enzyme responsible for non-healing, inflammatory wounds found in people with diabetes. The researchers tried to probe a possible link between the enzyme and the runaway inflammation one witnesses in COVID patients in the ICU. The experimental study was carried out on a mouse model of coronavirus infections, and it was found that SETDB2 count was decreased in immune cells involved in the inflammatory response, called macrophages, of mice suffering from diabetes. However, it was later discovered that the same thing was happening in monocyte macrophages in the blood of people with diabetes and severe COVID-19.

Patients suffering from Type-2 diabetes develop severe COVID infections: Study

According to the lead author of the study, W James Melvin, and his colleagues, Katherine Gallagher, observed that as SETDB2 went down, inflammation in the body automatically went up, and it was also found that a pathway known as JAK1/STAT3 regulates SETDB2 in macrophages during coronavirus infection. The researchers came to a point where they discovered that interferon, a cytokine essential for viral immunity, increased SETDB2 in response to healing wounds and decreasing inflammation in the body. The researchers noted that those patients admitted to the ICU with diabetes and severe COVID-19 had a reduced interferon-beta level compared to those without diabetes.

"Interferon has been studied throughout the pandemic as a potential therapy with efforts going back and forth between trying to increase or decrease interferon levels. My sense is that its efficacy as therapy will be both patient and time-specific, "said Gallagher.

With these findings, the researchers hope to inform other experts who are carrying research and clinical trials of interferon or other downstream components of the pathway, including epigenetic targets, on coronavirus. The researchers also claimed that it might make a massive difference if they target patients in the early stage. Melvin said, "Our research is showing that maybe if we can target patients with diabetes with interferon, especially early in their infection, that may make a big difference". 

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