Neag MA, Vulturar DM, Gherman D, Burlacu CC, Todea DA, Buzoianu AD. Gastrointestinal microbiota: A predictor of COVID-19 severity? World J Gastroenterol 2022; 28(45): 6328-6344 [PMID: 36533107 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i45.6328]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Damiana-Maria Vulturar, PhD, Doctor, Researcher, Department of Pneumology, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Victor Babes Street No. 8, Cluj-Napoca 400332, Romania. vulturar.damianamaria@elearn.umfcluj.ro
Research Domain of This Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 7, 2022; 28(45): 6328-6344 Published online Dec 7, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i45.6328
Gastrointestinal microbiota: A predictor of COVID-19 severity?
Maria Adriana Neag, Damiana-Maria Vulturar, Diana Gherman, Codrin-Constantin Burlacu, Doina Adina Todea, Anca Dana Buzoianu
Maria Adriana Neag, Anca Dana Buzoianu, Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca 400337, Romania
Damiana-Maria Vulturar, Doina Adina Todea, Department of Pneumology, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca 400332, Romania
Diana Gherman, Department of Radiology, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca 400347, Romania
Codrin-Constantin Burlacu, Faculty of Medicine, Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca 400347, Romania
Author contributions: Neag MA, Vulturar DM Gherman D and Todea DA performed the research; Neag MA, Vulturar DM, Burlacu CC analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; Burlacu CC contributed the new reagents and analytic tools; Buzoianu AD designed the research study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors report having no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
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: Damiana-Maria Vulturar, PhD, Doctor, Researcher, Department of Pneumology, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Victor Babes Street No. 8, Cluj-Napoca 400332, Romania. vulturar.damianamaria@elearn.umfcluj.ro
Received: September 19, 2022 Peer-review started: September 19, 2022 First decision: October 19, 2022 Revised: October 26, 2022 Accepted: November 16, 2022 Article in press: November 16, 2022 Published online: December 7, 2022 Processing time: 73 Days and 13 Hours
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, has raised serious concerns worldwide over the past 3 years. The severity and clinical course of COVID-19 depends on many factors (e.g., associated comorbidities, age, etc) and may have various clinical and imaging findings, which raises management concerns. Gut microbiota composition is known to influence respiratory disease, and respiratory viral infection can also influence gut microbiota. Gut and lung microbiota and their relationship (gut-lung axis) can act as modulators of inflammation. Modulating the intestinal microbiota, by improving its composition and diversity through nutraceutical agents, can have a positive impact in the prophylaxis/treatment of COVID-19.
Core Tip: In the last 10 years, the intestinal microbiota has been intensively studied in relation to various diseases from gastrointestinal to cardiovascular, respiratory, and even neurological or psychiatric diseases. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been a challenge in this regard. Thus, in this review we highlighted the link between microbiota and COVID-19, aspects of the clinical and imaging manifestation and the potential role of some nutraceuticals in this widespread respiratory viral disease.
