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Targoński R, Gąsecka A, Prowancki A, Targoński R. An alternative to airborne droplet transmission route of SARS-CoV-2, the feco-oral route, as a factor shaping COVID-19 pandemic. Med Hypotheses 2022; 166:110903. [PMID: 35791352 PMCID: PMC9247218 DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2022.110903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
The Chinese scenario, a rapid increase in the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 infections and sudden decline, is uncommon worldwide. Enormous differences in COVID-19 severity among individual countries are the striking findings of the pandemics. It has been demonstrated that a mild course of COVID-19 is associated with gastrointestinal symptoms, less inflammatory response, and better prognosis. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 was observed longer in the gastrointestinal tract than in respiratory swabs, promoting feco-oral transmissions and mild virus attenuation. The spread of the pandemic and its severity might, consequently, depends on the dominant environmental route of infection and emerging immunity. We hypothesize that the feco-oral SARS-CoV-2 transmission may help to achieve the long-term immunity against COVID-19, since it enables the continuous contact with viral antigens in the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in lower mortality rate. To conclude, countries producing rice through traditional methods developed rapidly emerging long-lasting population immunity, possibly through increased SARS-CoV-2 antigen exposure in the gastrointestinal tract. Our hypothesis brings attention to this potential route of herd immunity against SARS-CoV-2 which warrants further investigation in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryszard Targoński
- Cardiology and Internal Medicine Clinic, Metropolitan Hospital in Olsztyn, University of University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland
| | - Aleksandra Gąsecka
- 1 Chair and Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
- Laboratory of Experimental Clinical Chemistry, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Adrian Prowancki
- Cardiology and Internal Medicine Clinic, Metropolitan Hospital in Olsztyn, University of University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland
- Department of Human Physiology and Pathophysiology, University of University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland
| | - Radosław Targoński
- 1 Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
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Sciacchitano S, Capalbo C, Napoli C, Negro A, De Biase L, Marcolongo A, Anibaldi P, Salvati V, Petrella L, Merlo L, Alampi D, Alessandri E, Loffredo C, Ulivieri A, Lavra L, Magi F, Morgante A, Salehi LB, De Vitis C, Mancini R, Coluzzi F, Rocco M. Nonthyroidal illness syndrome (NTIS) in severe COVID-19 patients: role of T3 on the Na/K pump gene expression and on hydroelectrolytic equilibrium. J Transl Med 2021; 19:491. [PMID: 34861865 PMCID: PMC8640710 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-021-03163-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 11/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Nonthyroidal Illness Syndrome (NTIS) can be detected in many critical illnesses. Recently, we demonstrated that this condition is frequently observed in COVID-19 patients too and it is correlated with the severity the disease. However, the exact mechanism through which thyroid hormones influence the course of COVID-19, as well as that of many other critical illnesses, is not clear yet and treatment with T4, T3 or a combination of both is still controversial. Aim of this study was to analyze body composition in COVID-19 patients in search of possible correlation with the thyroid function. Methods and findings We report here our experience performed in 74 critically ill COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) of our University Hospital in Rome. In these patients, we evaluated the thyroid hormone function and body composition by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) during the acute phase of the disease at admission in the ICU. To examine the effects of thyroid function on BIA parameters we analyzed also 96 outpatients, affected by thyroid diseases in different functional conditions. We demonstrated that COVID-19 patients with low FT3 serum values exhibited increased values of the Total Body Water/Free Fat Mass (TBW/FFM) ratio. Patients with the lowest FT3 serum values had also the highest level of TBW/FFM ratio. This ratio is an indicator of the fraction of FFM as water and represents one of the best-known body-composition constants in mammals. We found an inverse correlation between FT3 serum values and this constant. Reduced FT3 serum values in COVID-19 patients were correlated with the increase in the total body water (TBW), the extracellular water (ECW) and the sodium/potassium exchangeable ratio (Nae:Ke), and with the reduction of the intracellular water (ICW). No specific correlation was observed in thyroid patients at different functional conditions between any BIA parameters and FT3 serum values, except for the patient with myxedema, that showed a picture similar to that seen in COVID-19 patients with NTIS. Since the Na+/K+ pump is a well-known T3 target, we measured the mRNA expression levels of the two genes coding for the two major isoforms of this pump. We demonstrated that COVID-19 patients with NTIS had lower levels of mRNA of both genes in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)s obtained from our patients during the acute phase of the disease. In addition, we retrieved data from transcriptome analysis, performed on human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM)s treated with T3 and we demonstrated that in these cells T3 is able to stimulate the expression of these two genes in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that measurement of BIA parameters is a useful method to analyze water and salt retention in COVID-19 patients hospitalized in ICU and, in particular, in those that develop NTIS. Our results indicate that NTIS has peculiar similarities with myxedema seen in severe hypothyroid patients, albeit it occurs more rapidly. The Na+/K+ pump is a possible target of T3 action, involved in the pathogenesis of the anasarcatic condition observed in our COVID-19 patients with NTIS. Finally, measurement of BIA parameters may represent good endpoints to evaluate the benefit of future clinical interventional trials, based on the administration of T3 in patients with NTIS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Salvatore Sciacchitano
- Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University, Viale Regina Elena n. 324, 00161, Rome, Italy. .,Laboratory of Biomedical Research, Niccolò Cusano University Foundation, Rome, Italy.
| | - Carlo Capalbo
- Department of Medical Oncology, Sant'Andrea University Hospital, 00189, Rome, Italy.,Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Christian Napoli
- Department of Clinical and Surgical Translational Medicine, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Andrea Negro
- Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University, Viale Regina Elena n. 324, 00161, Rome, Italy
| | - Luciano De Biase
- Heart Failure Unit, Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Paolo Anibaldi
- Health Management Director, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | - Valentina Salvati
- Scientific Direction, IRCCS Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy
| | - Lea Petrella
- Department of Methods and Models for Economics, Territory and Finance (MEMOTEF), Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Luca Merlo
- Department of Statistical Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Daniela Alampi
- Department of Clinical and Surgical Translational Medicine, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.,Unit of Anesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, Sant'Andrea University Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | - Elisa Alessandri
- Unit of Anesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, Sant'Andrea University Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | - Chiara Loffredo
- Unit of Anesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, Sant'Andrea University Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | - Alessandra Ulivieri
- Laboratory of Biomedical Research, Niccolò Cusano University Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Luca Lavra
- Laboratory of Biomedical Research, Niccolò Cusano University Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Fiorenza Magi
- Laboratory of Biomedical Research, Niccolò Cusano University Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Alessandra Morgante
- Laboratory of Biomedical Research, Niccolò Cusano University Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Leila B Salehi
- Laboratory of Biomedical Research, Niccolò Cusano University Foundation, Rome, Italy.,U.O.C. of Medical Genetics, Policlinic of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Claudia De Vitis
- Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University, Viale Regina Elena n. 324, 00161, Rome, Italy
| | - Rita Mancini
- Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University, Viale Regina Elena n. 324, 00161, Rome, Italy
| | - Flaminia Coluzzi
- Department of Medico-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Monica Rocco
- Department of Clinical and Surgical Translational Medicine, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.,Unit of Anesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, Sant'Andrea University Hospital, Rome, Italy
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