Abstract
Although SARS-CoV-2 can invade the intestine, though its effect on digestion and absorption is not fully understood. In the present study, 56 COVID-19 patients and 47 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects were divided into a discovery cohort and a validation cohort. Blood, faeces and clinical information were collected from the patients in the hospital and at discharge. The faecal metabolome was analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and Spearman’s correlation analyses of clinical features, the serum metabolome, and the faecal micro- and mycobiota were conducted. The results showed that, the faeces of COVID-19 patients were enriched with important nutrients that should be metabolized or absorbed, such as sucrose and 2-palmitoyl-glycerol; diet-related components that cannot be synthesized by humans, such as 1,5-anhydroglucitol and D-pinitol; and harmful metabolites, such as oxalate, were also detected. In contrast, purine metabolites such as deoxyinosine and hypoxanthine, low-water-soluble long-chain fatty alcohols/acids such as behenic acid, compounds rarely occurring in nature such as D-allose and D-arabinose, and microbe-related compounds such as 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol were depleted in the faeces of COVID-19 patients. Moreover, these metabolites significantly correlated with altered serum metabolites such as oxalate and gut microbesincluding Ruminococcaceae, Actinomyces, Sphingomonas and Aspergillus. Although levels of several faecal metabolites, such as sucrose, 1,5-anhydroglucitol and D-pinitol, of discharged patients were not different from those of healthy controls (HCs), those of oxalate and 2-palmitoyl-glycerol did differ. Therefore, alterations in the faecal metabolome of COVID-19 patients may reflect malnutrition and intestinal inflammation and warrant greater attention. The results of present study provide new insights into the pathogenesis and treatment of COVID-19.
Keywords: COVID-19; Metabolome; Microbiota; Mycobiota; SARS-CoV-2.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, metabolome, microbiota, Mycobiota, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, SARS-CoV-2, mass spectrometry, Pathogenesis, hospital, metabolome, discharged patients, discharge, Clinical features, serum, Cohort, microbiota, humans, intestine, age, metabolites, Malnutrition, correlation, Aspergillus, metabolite, COVID-19 patients, Analysis, intestinal inflammation, COVID-19 patient, Faeces, Gut, Mycobiota, discharged patient, digestion, can not, sucrose, gas chromatography, treatment of COVID-19, healthy control, alteration, Compound, clinical information, healthy controls, validation cohort, Absorption, component, purine, glycerol, Spearman, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, oxalate, Actinomyces, butylphenol, behenic acid, D-pinitol, hypoxanthine, pinitol, greater, collected, significantly, the patient, conducted, faece, analysed, correlated, not different, healthy subject, absorbed, fatty, HCs, 【제목키워드】 clinical feature, microbe, COVID-19 patient, Gut,