Do biomarkers of COVID-19 severity simply reflect a stress response in type 2 diabetes: biomarker response to hypoglycemia

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with high risk for acquiring SARSCov-2 infection, severe disease, acute respiratory distress syndrome and increased mortality. A recent publication reported five predictive COVID-19 severity markers that included CCL17 which was expressed in low levels in severe/critical patients at an early phase of infection; IFNλ, IL6, IP10, and CXCL9 values surged and then dropped suddenly before the development of severe disease requiring oxygen support. This suggested that CCL17 may be a useful first triage marker and the other reported proteins may help to predict severe disease onset.