Title:COVID-19 and Diabetes: will Novel Drugs for Diabetes Help in COVID-19?
Volume: 16
Author(s): Hayder Mutter Al-Kuraishy, Ali Ismail Al-Gareeb, Gomaa Mostafa-Hedeab, Rupal Dubey, Pranav Kumar Prabhakar*Gaber El-Saber Batiha*
Affiliation:
- Department of Research Impact and
Outcome, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, India
- Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics,
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Damanhour 22511, AlBeheira, Egypt
Keywords:
Coronavirus, diabetes, ACE2 receptor, secondary complications, antidiabetic drugs, hyperglycemia.
Abstract: COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has afflicted more than
245.37 million individuals worldwide and resulted in more than 4.9 million deaths as of today,
with a mortality rate of 2.1%. Diabetes mellitus (DM) and its secondary complications are the
major serious global health concerns today due to its growth rate, and it is the fastest-growing
non-communicable disease. According to International Diabetes Federation (IDF) data, one out
of 11 adults is diabetic, and the projection says that the figure will reach 642 million by 2040
globally. The occurrence of DM and its secondary complications is also associated with the severity
of COVID-19 and high mortality. People with DM have a weakened immune system owing
to innate immunity defects affecting phagocytosis, neutrophil chemotaxis, and cellmediated
immunity; however, the high prevalence of diabetes in serious cases of COVID-19
may reflect the higher prevalence of type 2 DM (T2DM) in older people. Moreover, DM is
linked to cardiovascular illness in older people, which could underlie the correlation between
COVID-19 and fatal outcomes. SARS-CoV-2 infects via the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2
(ACE2), which is found in pancreatic islets, and infection with SARS-CoV-1 has been linked to
hyperglycemia in individuals who do not have DM. And hence diabetic patients need to take
more precautions and maintain their blood glucose levels. Many pieces of research say that
COVID-19 and DM, especially its secondary complications are interlinked. But it also needs
more elaborative evidence on whether the anti-diabetic drugs can manage only blood glucose or
SARS-CoV-2.