Metabolic abnormalities in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with immune response to SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Background. It is known that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can directly infect hepatocytes. At the same time, overweight and obesity are surrogate markers of the adverse effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of the study: to evaluate changes in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and their indices in the serum of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with an immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Materials and methods. We studied 37 patients with NAFLD who had IgG to SARS-CoV-2. All patients were divided into two groups: group I consisted of 19 participants who were PCR-negative for SARS-CoV-2, group II included 18 patients who had COVID-19, as confirmed by PCR testing. The content of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), glucose, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), atherogenicity coefficient, insulin resistance indices (HOMA-IR), TG to glucose (TG/Gly) and TG to HDL-C (TG/HDL-C) ratio were assessed in all patients. Results. Among patients with NAFLD with an immune response to SARS-CoV-2, dyslipidemia manifested by a probable increase in the median TG content in groups I and II by 2.5 and 3.4 times (р = 0.0001), respectively; TC — by 1.2 times (р = 0.0425) in both groups, with a tendency to increase; VLDL-C — by 1.8 (р = 0.010) and 2.5 times (р = 0.0022), respectively, and a decrease in the median content of HDL-C by 1.7 (р = 0.0016) and 1.9 times (р = 0.0008), respectively, in blood serum. The identified changes led to a statistically significant increase in the median atherogenicity coefficient in groups I and II — by 2.2 (р = 0.0036) and 2.5 times (р = 0.007). An increase in the HOMA-IR did not have a statistically significant difference between the groups: in group I, this index increased by 3.1 times (p < 0.05) compared with the controls, in group II — by 3 times (p < 0.05). In addition, patients in both groups had a statistically significant increase in TG/Gly and TG/HDL-C ratio compared to controls. However, the detected changes were more pronounced in group II, where TG/Gly and TG/HDL-C levels were 1.5 (р = 0.038) and 1.9 times (р = 0.035), respectively, higher than in group I. Conclusions. Patients with an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 with NAFLD have disorders of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. At the same time, the signs of dyslipidemia were more pronounced in participants with a history of SARS-CoV-2. TG/Gly and TG/HDL-C ratio should be included in the diagnostic algorithm for assessing insulin resistance in patients with COVID-19 who are overweight or obese.