Published in Cell Metabolism
Koh et al. show that imidazole propionate, a microbial metabolite, impairs the glucose-lowering effect of the anti-diabetic drug metformin and inhibits metformin-induced AMPK activation by activating p38γ/Akt/inhibitory AMPK serine phosphorylation. They further show that metformin action is restored by blocking imidazole propionate-activated p38γ.
Published in Cell Metabolism
Evans and Lippman propose vitamin D deficiency intensifies COVID-19 symptoms. Paricalcitol, a vitamin D analogue, reverses stellate cell-driven fibrosis and inflammation in liver and pancreas. Based on parallel pathways in the lung, paricalcitol may be effective in treating ventilated COVID-19 patients.
Published in Cell Metabolism
Published in Cell Metabolism
In a cohort of 1,213 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and pre-existing type 2 diabetes, Cheng et al. show that metformin use is significantly associated with higher incidence of acidosis, particularly in cases with severe COVID-19, but not with 28-day all-cause mortality. They also found that metformin use is significantly associated with reduce...
Published in Cell Metabolism
Hooftman et al. reveal a role for the Krebs cycle-derived metabolite itaconate in regulating the NLRP3 inflammasome. Itaconate specifically blocks NLRP3 inflammasome activation by reducing the NLRP3-NEK7 interaction, likely due to modification of C548 on NLRP3. Furthermore, itaconate inhibits IL-1β release from cells isolated from patients with the...
Published in Cell Metabolism
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven unprecedented efforts to identify existing treatments that can be quickly and effectively repurposed to reduce morbidity and mortality. In this issue of Cell Metabolism , Zhang et al. (2020) report an association between statin use and improved outcomes in a large observational study of hospitalized COVID-19 patient...
Published in Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry
Background/Aims: In addition to their action of lowering blood cholesterol levels, statins modulate biological characteristics and functions of arterial myocytes such as viability, proliferation, apoptosis, survival and contraction. The present study tested whether simvastatin, as a prototype statin, enhances autophagy in coronary arterial myocytes...
Published in Cell Metabolism
Diabetic people with uncontrolled blood glucose levels have a greater risk to develop severe COVID-19 disease. Codo et al. show that elevated glucose levels and glycolysis promote SARS-CoV-2 (CoV-2) replication and cytokine production in monocytes through a mitochondrial ROS/hypoxia-inducible factor-1α dependent pathway, resulting in T cell dysfunc...
Published in Cell Metabolism
Published in Cell Metabolism
Fafián-Labora et al. demonstrate that small extracellular vesicles isolated from young human donor fibroblasts (sEV-Ys) possess glutathione-S-transferase (GST)-intrinsic activity. Through this activity, sEV-Ys ameliorate senescence and aging by increasing the antioxidant capacity of old fibroblasts and old mice, thus preventing lipid peroxidation.
