Coronavirus-19, monocyte/macrophage glycolysis and inhibition by melatonin

Abstract

Abstract: Two highly relevant studies related to SARS-CoV-2 and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and supporting the use of melatonin to prevent and treat this serious infection were published recently. Campos-Codo and colleagues [1] documented experimentally their claim that drugs which specifically target hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) would likely have great therapeutic value in treating COVID-19. The second report is a retrospective analysis based on the clinical experience at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center with the use of drugs to treat respiratory distress in COVID-19-infected patients who required endotracheal intubation [2]. Hyperinflammatory monocytes/macrophages accumulate in abundance in the lower respiratory tract where they play a key role in determining the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Campos-Codo, et al. [1] found that monocytes/macrophages infected with the SARSCoV-2 virus reprogram their metabolism from the conventional mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to the (usually) pathological cytosolic glycolysis. This so-called Warburg-type metabolism is aided by the inadequately controlled elevated blood glucose levels of diabetic patients, which enhances cellular glycolysis, viral replication and hastens development of a severe respiratory infection resulting from the elevated cytokine release (“cytokine storm”).