Diabetes and prediabetes may be some of the long-term consequences of Covid-19. The discovery comes from a research published in the journal ‘Nature Metabolism’ and developed by the Sacco hospital, San Paolo hospital and the University of Milan with an international team coordinated by Professor Paolo Fiorina who also includes the University of Pisa and Harvard Medical School.
The study, which revealed how Covid-19-related diabetes develops, demonstrates for the first time that viral infection can induce insulin resistance and thus deteriorate normal Ī²-cell function, alterations that can lead to persistent hyperglycemia of severity varies even after healing.
In particular, for the University of Pisa, Dr. Giuseppe Daniele, researcher at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, participated. His work has helped to demonstrate that the risk of developing insulin resistance and diabetes are closely and proportionally related to the cytokine storm that develops during Covid-19 infection and that this impairment persists even after recovery. The role of cytokines and sub-inflammation in the genesis of insulin resistance in obesity and type 2 diabetes is a line of research already followed by Dr. Giuseppe Daniele together with professor Franco Folli and others, in studies conducted in San Antonio. , in Texas.
This latest work published in ‘Nature Metabolism’ – according to professors Paolo Fiorina, Massimo Galli, Gianvincenzo Zuccotti of Asst Fatebenefratelli-Sacco and Franco Folli, Asst Santi Paolo and Carlo (all of the University of Milan) – will therefore help to to investigate the mechanisms of diabetes in particularly fragile patients and to develop new therapeutic strategies for this disease.