Nasr El-Din A, Ata KAE, Abdel-Gawad AR, et al. - Researchers examined if and how the severity of COVID-19 in obese-diabetic patients associates with the altered serum levels of MMP-7, MMP-9, TGF-β, and PDGF macrophage activation markers.

• Among 70 COVID-19 patients included in this study, 22 were obese COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and 48 were non-obese, non-diabetic COVID-19 patients (an age- and gender-matched control group).

• Analysis revealed main polarization of macrophages towards the M2 phenotype in obese-diabetic COVID-19 patients with significant upregulation of the pro-fibrotic markers MMP-7, MMP-9, PDGF, and TGF-β.

• Hence, among obese-diabetic patients, there appeared correlation of high levels of MMP-7 and MMP-9 with acute respiratory distress syndrome in severe COVID-19 disease.