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©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Hepatobiliary system and intestinal injury in new coronavirus infection (COVID-19): A retrospective study
Konstantin V Kozlov, Konstantin V Zhdanov, Anna K Ratnikova, Vyacheslav A Ratnikov, Artem V Tishkov, Vladimir Grinevich, Yuriy A Kravchuk, Panteley I Miklush, Polina O Nikiforova, Vera V Gordienko, Alexander F Popov, Boris G Andryukov
Konstantin V Kozlov, Konstantin V Zhdanov, Yuriy A Kravchuk, Panteley I Miklush, Polina O Nikiforova, Vera V Gordienko, Department of Infectious Disease, Military Medical Academy Named After SM. Kirov, Saint-Petersburg 194044, Russia
Anna K Ratnikova, Department of Admission, Federal State Budgetary Institution "North-West District Scientific and Clinical Center Named After LG. Sokolov Federal Medical and Biological Agency", Saint-Petersburg 194291, Russia
Vyacheslav A Ratnikov, Department of Roentgenology, Federal State Budgetary Institution "North-West District Scientific and Clinical Center Named After LG. Sokolov Federal Medical and Biological Agency", Saint-Petersburg 194291, Russia
Artem V Tishkov, Department of Physics, Mathematics and Informatics, FSBEI HE IP. Pavlov SPbSMU MOH Russia, Saint-Petersburg 197022, Russia
Vladimir Grinevich, 2nd Department of Therapy (Advanced Medical Education), Military Medical Academy Named After SM. Kirov, Saint-Petersburg 194044, Russia
Alexander F Popov, Boris G Andryukov, School of Medicine, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok 690922, Russia
Author contributions: Kozlov KV, Zhdanov KV, Ratnikova AK, Ratnikov VA, Tishkov AV, Grinevich V, Kravchuk YA, Miklush PI, Nikiforova PO, Gordienko VV, Popov AF, Andryukov BG wrote the manuscript, reviewed and agreed to the final version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The present study was reviewed and approved by the independent ethics committee of the Military Medical Academy named after SM. Kirov, protocol (Approval No. 246).
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient and her family for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Vera V Gordienko, MD, Doctor, Teacher, Department of Infectious Disease, Military Medical Academy named after S.M. Kirov, No. 6 Lebedeva Street, Saint-Petersburg 194044, Russia. ivanovavmeda@gmail.com
Received: September 29, 2022
Peer-review started: September 29, 2022
First decision: January 3, 2023
Revised: January 22, 2023
Accepted: March 6, 2023
Article in press: March 6, 2023
Published online: April 6, 2023
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
An important area of effective control of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the study of the pathogenic features of severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, including those based on assessing the state of the intestinal microbiota and permeability.
Research motivation
To study the clinical features of the COVID-19 in patients with mild and moderate severity at the stage of hospitalization.
Research objectives
The objective of this clinical study was to determine the role of hepatobiliary injury, intestinal permeability disorders, and changes in composition of the microbiota in the development of systemic inflammation in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Research methods
The study was performed in 80 patients with mild and moderate severity of COVID-19. The scope of the examination included traditional clinical, laboratory, biochemical, instrumental, and radiation studies, as well as original methods for studying microbiota and intestinal permeability.
Research results
The clinical and biochemical features, manifestations of systemic inflammation, and intestinal microbiome changes in patients with mild and moderate severity were identified.
Research conclusions
This study highlights the role of intestinal permeability and microbiota as the main drivers of gastroenterological manifestations and increased COVID-19 severity.
Research perspectives
Our study showed that there is a change in the composition of the intestinal microflora, an increase in zonulin in feces, and intestinal dysfunction, which might be connected to COVID-19. We believe that additional studies should give more promising results. We also suggest that the use of probiotics, prebiotics, short chain fatty acids might show the success in treating intestinal dysbiosis caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. If the effectiveness of these drugs is confirmed, the results can be used to complement the algorithms for COVID-19 treatment.
