TY - JOUR T1 - Western diet increases COVID-19 disease severity in the Syrian hamster JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2021.06.17.448814 SP - 2021.06.17.448814 AU - Julia R. Port AU - Danielle R. Adney AU - Benjamin Schwarz AU - Jonathan E. Schulz AU - Daniel E. Sturdevant AU - Brian J. Smith AU - Victoria A. Avanzato AU - Myndi G. Holbrook AU - Jyothi N. Purushotham AU - Kaitlin A. Stromberg AU - Ian Leighton AU - Catharine M. Bosio AU - Carl Shaia AU - Vincent J. Munster Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/06/17/2021.06.17.448814.abstract N2 - Pre-existing comorbidities such as obesity or metabolic diseases can adversely affect the clinical outcome of COVID-19. Chronic metabolic disorders are globally on the rise and often a consequence of an unhealthy diet, referred to as a Western Diet. For the first time in the Syrian hamster model, we demonstrate the detrimental impact of a continuous high-fat high-sugar diet on COVID-19 outcome. We observed increased weight loss and lung pathology, such as exudate, vasculitis, hemorrhage, fibrin, and edema, delayed viral clearance and functional lung recovery, and prolonged viral shedding. This was accompanied by an increased trend of systemic IL-10 and IL-6, as well as a dysregulated serum lipid response dominated by polyunsaturated fatty acid-containing phosphatidylethanolamine, recapitulating cytokine and lipid responses associated with severe human COVID-19. Our data support the hamster model for testing restrictive or targeted diets and immunomodulatory therapies to mediate the adverse effects of metabolic disease on COVID-19.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -