Project Details
Projekt
The role of ketogenesis in the immune response towards SARS-CoV-2
Subject Area
Immunology
Anaesthesiology
Anaesthesiology
Term
from 2021 to 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 458687416
Currently, the whole world is facing a pandemic caused by infections with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Despite substantial efforts our knowledge of the pathogenicity, host response and treatment options for COVID-19 is still limited. The SARS-CoV-2 virus invades the respiratory tract and lungs causing tissue damage, which in severe cases can rapidly progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In the majority of affected people the host immune response is sufficient to resolve the infection. However, in some cases dysfunctional immune responses may result in severe lung and systemic pathology. Recent data suggest that changes in host metabolism such as the dysregulation of blood glucose occurring in type 2 diabetes mellitus could lead to adverse outcomes and increased death rate in COVID-19 patients. We found in the serum of patients with ARDS due to SARS-CoV2 significantly reduced amounts of BHB levels compared to individuals infected with influenza. This suggests that COVID-19 patients lack a host metabolic program called ketogenesis that may serve an important role in inducing protective anti-viral immunity while preventing lung tissue damage and prevent SARS-CoV-2 driven ARDS. To investigate our hypothesis we will research the function of ketone bodies to induce protective anti-viral immune responses and their potential to prevent airway epithelial damage. Overall, our ambition is to pioneer the potential of ketone bodies and ketogenic diet as novel and cost effective treatments for severe cases of COVID-19. Thus, with our research we aim to the tackle one of the most pressing major societal challenge in the world, the high death rates of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
