Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine, The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Northwell Health, Manhasset, NY 11030, USA; Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY 11549, USA.
Pharmacol Ther. 2021 Jun;222:107794. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2020.107794. Epub 2020 Dec 10.
Obesity and the metabolic syndrome (MetS), which have reached pandemic proportions significantly increase the risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other serious conditions. Recent data with COVID-19 patients indicate that obesity also is a significant risk factor for this novel viral disease and poor outcome of associated critical illness. These findings considerably change the view of obesity as a driver of serious, but slowly-progressing chronic diseases, and emphasize the urgency to explore new therapeutic approaches. Inflammation is a recognized driver of metabolic derangements in obesity and MetS, and a core feature of COVID-19 pathobiology. Recent advances in our understanding of inflammatory regulation have highlighted the role of the nervous system and the vagus nerve-based inflammatory reflex. Current bioelectronic and pharmacological therapeutic explorations centered on the inflammatory reflex offer new approaches for conditions characterized by immune and metabolic dysregulation and for ameliorating the escalating burden of obesity, MetS, and COVID-19.
肥胖症和代谢综合征（Metabolic Syndrome，MetS）已达到流行程度，大大增加了患 2 型糖尿病、心血管疾病和其他严重疾病的风险。最近对 COVID-19 患者的数据表明，肥胖也是这种新型病毒疾病的一个重要危险因素，并且与相关的重症疾病不良预后有关。这些发现极大地改变了肥胖是严重但进展缓慢的慢性疾病的驱动因素的观点，并强调了探索新的治疗方法的紧迫性。炎症是肥胖症和 MetS 中代谢紊乱的公认驱动因素，也是 COVID-19 病理生物学的核心特征。我们对炎症调节的理解的最新进展强调了神经系统和基于迷走神经的炎症反射的作用。目前以炎症反射为中心的生物电子和药理学治疗探索为免疫和代谢失调为特征的疾病以及改善肥胖症、MetS 和 COVID-19 不断增加的负担提供了新的方法。
