{"doi":"10.3390/v16020295","title":"Impact of Delta SARS-CoV-2 Infection on Glucose Metabolism: Insights on Host Metabolism and Virus Crosstalk in a Feline Model","abstract":"Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes enhanced mortality in people with metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Other highly infectious RNA viruses have demonstrated dependence on glucose transport and utilization, so we hypothesized that SARS-CoV-2 infection could lead to alterations in cellular and whole-body glucose metabolism. Twenty-four healthy domestic cats were intratracheally inoculated with B.1.617.2 (delta) SARS-CoV-2 and samples were collected at 4- and 12-days post-inoculation (dpi). Blood glucose and circulating cortisol concentrations were elevated at 4 and 12 dpi. Serum insulin concentration was statistically significantly decreased, while angiotensin 2 concentration was elevated at 12 dpi. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in the pancreas and skeletal muscle at low levels; however, no change in the number of insulin-producing cells or proinflammatory cytokines was observed in the pancreas of infected cats through 12 dpi. SARS-CoV-2 infection statistically significantly increased GLUT protein expression in both the heart and lungs, correlating with increased AMPK expression. In brief, SARS-CoV-2 increased blood glucose concentration and cardio-pulmonary GLUT expression through an AMPK-dependent mechanism, without affecting the pancreas, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 induces the reprogramming of host glucose metabolism. A better understanding of host cell metabolism and virus crosstalk could lead to the discovery of novel metabolic therapeutic targets for patients affected by COVID-19.","journal":"Viruses","year":2024,"id":436206,"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":11,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9508,"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":1244727,"name":"Kaushalya Jayathilake","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1244728,"name":"John-Michael Balcerak","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":806343,"name":"Miruthula Tamil Selvan","orcid":"0000-0002-5412-5496","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1244305,"name":"Sachithra Gunasekara","orcid":"0009-0009-9017-2538","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":313544,"name":"Craig Miller","orcid":"0000-0002-3638-5665","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":720501,"name":"Jennifer Rudd","orcid":"0000-0002-4532-3458","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1244306,"name":"Véronique A. Lacombe","orcid":"0000-0002-7698-6385","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1244304,"name":"Matthew T. Rochowski","orcid":"0009-0007-6736-1360","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":62,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:00:12.706156Z","pmid":"38400070","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":[]}