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Editorial
. 2020 Sep;159(3):824-827.
doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2020.07.014. Epub 2020 Jul 17.

Lipotoxicity and Cytokine Storm in Severe Acute Pancreatitis and COVID-19

Péter Hegyi  1 , Zsolt Szakács  1 , Miklós Sahin-Tóth  2
Affiliations
Editorial

Lipotoxicity and Cytokine Storm in Severe Acute Pancreatitis and COVID-19

Péter Hegyi et al. Gastroenterology. 2020 Sep.
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A, Role of fatty acid toxicity and cytokine storm in acute pancreatitis and coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Factors inducing pancreatitis and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection damage the pancreas and cause lipase leakage resulting in increased lipolysis in visceral adipocytes in both conditions. SARS-CoV-2 may directly affect adipocytes as well. Lipolysis increases levels of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), causing organ damage and inducing the cytokine storm, which drives disease progression and determines the ultimate severity. B, Early IL-6, -8, and -10 levels are strongly associated with severity in acute pancreatitis and COVID-19. Standardized mean differences (squares) with 95% confidence intervals (CI; horizontal lines) were calculated for each study in this meta-analysis. The “Total” column gives the number of patients in the analysis. Results of individual studies were pooled with the random effects model; the pooled point estimates with CI is represented by diamonds in the figure. If the CI does not cross the line of no effect (vertical black line at the 0 value on the horizontal axis), the difference should be considered statistically significant. Studies including patients with acute pancreatitis and those with COVID-19 were pooled separately (top and bottom panels for each cytokine, respectively). Severity of acute pancreatitis was defined as per the 2012 Atlanta Classification in all studies, the nonsevere group consists of cases without persistent organ failure including mild and moderately severe cases. The severity of COVID-19 was defined as per the definitions used in the individual studies: all but one adhered to the Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of New Coronavirus Pneumonia by the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. Further technical details are provided in the Supplementary Methods. The meta-analysis shows that IL-6, -8, and -10 levels were significantly higher in severe versus nonsevere disease in both acute pancreatitis and COVID-19, with considerable statistical heterogeneity across the studies. SD, standard deviation.
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References

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