The SARS-CoV-2 induced targeted amino acid profiling in patients at hospitalized and convalescent stage
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) induces an ongoing global health crisis. Here we utilized a combination of targeted amino acids and clinical biochemical profiling to analyze the plasma of COVID-19 subjects at the hospitalization stage and one-month post-infection convalescent stage, respectively, to investigate the systematic injury during COVID-19 disease progress. We found the virus-induced inflammatory status and reduced liver synthesis capacity in hospitalized patients, which manifested with increased branched-chain amino acids, aromatic amino acids, one-carbon related metabolites, and decreased methionine. Most of these disturbances during infection get recovery except for the increased levels of medium-chain acylcarnitines in the convalescent subjects, implying the existence of incomplete fatty acids oxidation during recovery periods. Our results suggested that the imbalance of the amino acid profiling in COVID-19 patients. The majority of disturbed amino acids recovered in one-month. The incomplete fatty acid oxidation products suggested it might take longer time for convalescent patients to get complete recovery.