{"doi":"10.3389/fnut.2024.1458106","title":"High fat, high sucrose diet promotes increased expression of ACE2 receptor in the SIV-infected host: implications for SARS-CoV-2 infection","abstract":"Introduction: People with pre-existing conditions, including metabolic comorbidities, are at greater risk for complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection and expression of machinery required for viral entry into host cells may be a contributing factor. This study tested the hypothesis that high fat, high sucrose diet (HFSD) and alcohol use increase expression of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) in tissues isolated from simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infected macaques, the most clinically relevant model for the study of HIV. Methods: ) were used to determine whether HFSD and chronic binge alcohol (CBA) increased ACE2 and TMPRSS2 protein and gene expression. Macaques (n = 10) were assigned to HFSD or standard diet (SD) for 3 months before CBA or vehicle administration. Three months later, macaques were infected with SIV; ART was initiated 2.5 months thereafter. Tissue samples including lung, pancreas, and kidney were collected at study endpoint (12 months post-SIV infection). Results: Protein expression of ACE2 in the lung, whole pancreas, and pancreatic islets was significantly greater in HFSD- than SD-fed macaques with no significant differences in protein expression of TMPRSS2 or mRNA expression of ACE2 or TMPRSS2. CBA did not significantly alter any measures. Discussion: The increased ACE2 receptor expression observed in lung and pancreas of SIV-infected HFSD-fed female rhesus macaques aligns with reports that diet may increase susceptibility to COVID-19. These data provide direct evidence for a link between dietary quality and cellular adaptations that may increase the risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection.","journal":"Frontiers in Nutrition","year":2024,"id":474167,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9535,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":496202,"name":"Danielle E. Levitt","orcid":"0000-0003-1865-1971","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":429641,"name":"Angela M. Amedee","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":374494,"name":"Patricia E. Molina","orcid":"0000-0002-3598-384X","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":473515,"name":"Liz Simon","orcid":"0000-0003-4149-3406","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":801851,"name":"Elizabeth Delery","orcid":"0000-0002-9759-9069","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":64,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:06:09.108857Z","pmid":"39403392","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}