Mason Shayne, van Reenen Mari, Rossouw Theresa, Lindeque Zander, Louw Roan
Human Metabolomics, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.
Department of Immunology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Heliyon. 2023 Apr;9(4):e15010. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15010. Epub 2023 Mar 28.
Various metabolomics studies have reported increased phenylalanine serum concentrations in SARS-CoV-2 positive cases and have correlated increased phenylalanine with COVID-19 severity. In this study, we report similar results based upon metabolomics analysis of serum collected from a South African cohort of adults with confirmed COVID-19. The novelty of this study is the inclusion of HIV positive cases in the African context. We found that pre-existing HIV co-infection exacerbates the disruption of phenylalanine metabolism in COVID-19. What is lacking in literature is biological context and deeper understanding of perturbed phenylalanine metabolism in COVID-19. We delve deep into the metabolism of phenylalanine in COVID-19 and posit new insights for COVID-19 cases co-infected with HIV; namely, HIV-COVID-19 co-infected individuals do not have sufficient bioavailability of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH). Hence, we identify BH as a potential supplement to alleviate/lessen COVID-19 symptoms.
多项代谢组学研究报告称，新冠病毒2019（SARS-CoV-2）阳性病例的血清苯丙氨酸浓度升高，且苯丙氨酸升高与2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的严重程度相关。在本研究中，我们基于对一组来自南非的确诊COVID-19成年队列的血清进行代谢组学分析，报告了类似结果。本研究的新颖之处在于纳入了非洲背景下的HIV阳性病例。我们发现，既往存在的HIV合并感染会加剧COVID-19中苯丙氨酸代谢的紊乱。文献中缺乏对COVID-19中苯丙氨酸代谢紊乱的生物学背景和深入理解。我们深入研究了COVID-19中苯丙氨酸的代谢，并为合并感染HIV的COVID-19病例提出了新的见解；即，HIV-COVID-19合并感染个体的四氢生物蝶呤（BH4）生物利用度不足。因此，我们确定BH4是一种缓解/减轻COVID-19症状的潜在补充剂。
