Lipidomic studies in serum COVID-19 patients

Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria ‘Federico II’; Ospedaliera Specialistica dei Colli-Napoli, Italy

Targeted metabolomic analysis was carried out to define the lipidomic serum profile of a cohort of COVID-19 patients characterized by different severity degree, following the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 induces metabolic changes in the body fluids, as reported very recently The six classes of lipids, as diacylglycerols (DG) (n=44 molecules), triacylglycerols (TG) (n=242 molecules), glycerophospholipids (LPC, PCaa, PCae (n=90 molecules), cholesterol esters (CE) (n=22), ceramides (Cer) (n=70) and sphyngolipids (SM) (n=15 molecules), were dosed. MS targeted lipidomic approach coupled to multivariate and univariate statistical analyses identified alterations in serum concentrations of 46 lipids when severe patients were compered to mild and moderate patients. A group TGs resulted altered in severe conditions. Moreover, a significant increased level of ceramides in serum of severe patients was observed.