The gut microbiome: an under-recognised contributor to the Covid-19 pandemic?
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The novel Coronavirus infection (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, Covid-19 has rapidly spread across the globe, culminating in major global morbidity and mortality. As such, there has been a rapid escalation in scientific and clinical activity aimed at increasing our comprehension of this virus. This volume of work has led to early insights into risk factors associated with severity of disease, and mechanisms that underpin the virulence and dynamics involved in viral transmission. These insights ultimately may help guide potential therapeutics to reduce the human, economic and social impact of this pandemic. Importantly, the gastrointestinal (GI) tract has emerged as an important organ for propensity to and severity of Covid-19 infection. Furthermore, the gut microbiome has been linked to a variety of diseases and manipulation of the gut microbiome is an attractive potential therapeutic target for a number of diseases. While the data profiling the gut microbiome in Covid-19 infection to date are limited, they support the possibility of several routes of interaction between Covid-19, the gut microbiome, ACE2 expression in the small bowel and colon and gut inflammation. This article will explore the evidence that implicates the gut microbiome as a contributing factor to the pathogenesis, severity and disease course of Covid-19 and speculate about the gut microbiome’s capability as a therapeutic avenue against Covid-19.
Date Issued
2020-11-24
Date Acceptance
2020-10-29
Citation
Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology, 2020, 13, pp.1-14
ISSN
1756-2848
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Start Page
1
End Page
14
Journal / Book Title
Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology
Volume
13
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s), 2020.
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals permissions. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals permissions. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Sponsor
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust- BRC Funding
Identifier
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1756284820974914
Grant Number
RDA27
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
COVID-19
gastrointestinal disease
microbiota
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
gastrointestinal disease
microbiota
1103 Clinical Sciences
1115 Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-11-24