COVID-19 and Selenium Deficiency: a Systematic Review

Abstract

Several studies have indicated that selenium deficiency may be detrimental in the context of various viral disorders, and in the case of COVID-19, several studies have reported heterogeneous results concerning the association of selenium deficiency with the severity of disease. To summarize the available data surrounding the association of body selenium levels with the outcomes of COVID-19, a systematic search was performed in the Medline database (PubMed), Scopus, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science using keywords including “SARS-CoV-2,” “COVID-19,” and “selenium,” Studies evaluating the association of COVID-19 with body selenium levels were included. Among 1,862 articles viewed in the database search, 10 articles were included after title, abstract, and full-text review. One study was further included after searching the literature again for any newly published articles. Out of 11 included studies, 10 studies measured serum selenium level, and one study investigated urinary selenium level. Three of 10 studies measured serum SELENOP level as well as selenium level. Glutathione peroxidase-3 level in serum was also assessed in one study. The reported outcomes were severity, mortality, and risk of COVID-19. Nine studies indicated that a lower serum selenium level is associated with worse outcomes. Two studies reported no significant association between serum selenium level and COVID-19. In one study, urinary selenium level was reported to be higher in severe and fatal cases compared to non-severe and recovered patients, respectively. In most cases, selenium deficiency was associated with worse outcomes, and selenium levels in COVID-19 patients were lower than in healthy individuals. Thus, it could be concluded that cautious selenium supplementation in COVID-19 patients may be helpful to prevent disease progression. However, randomized clinical trials are needed to confirm this.

Label-Free Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomic Analysis in Lamb Tissues after Fish Oil, Carnosic Acid, and Inorganic Selenium Supplementation

“…Fernández-Lázaro et al [ 62 ] found that no significant effects were observed in myosin heavy chain expression in muscle tissue after oral selenium supplementation with 180 µg/day or 240 µg/day in the form of selenomethionine or with 200 µg/day in the form of sodium selenite, although the changes in protein expression observed in their study might have been different if the analysis was done on heart tissues only, as in the present study. Gene ontology enrichment analysis performed for the identified differentially-expressed proteins ( Figure 2 ) indicated biological processes including plasma membrane repair, muscle structure development, and cytoskeleton organization, which confirms the positive effects of a diet enriched in Se on body function reported in several previous studies [ 15 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 ]. The cytoskeleton has been indicated as a biological process in functional annotation analysis of differentially expressed genes as a result of high dietary selenium supplementation in sheep reported by Elgendy et al [ 72 ].as.…”

Comparative Analysis of Serum Zinc, Copper and Magnesium Level and Their Relations in Association with Severity and Mortality in SARS-CoV-2 Patients

“…The results indicate that these metal levels are altered in a severity-dependent manner, showing that trace elements place a major role in COVID-19 pathology. Many recent reviews have commented that trace elements, vitamins and heavy metals play a major role in the pathophysiology of COVID-19 due to their pivotal role in homeostasis of the immune and other major systems of the body [22][23][24][25]. In vitro studies showed that SARS-CoV-2 viral spike protein interacts with ACE2 receptor, which is a zinc-dependent peptidyl dipeptide hydrolase.…”

Thyroid Dysfunction and COVID-19: The Emerging Role of Selenium in This Intermingled Relationship

“…In a systematic review including a total of 11 studies, nine of them suggested lower blood Se levels associated with worse outcomes, although the other two studies found no significant association between Se and COVID-19 [ 105 ]. In one of the included studies, urinary Se level was higher in severe and fatal cases compared with nonsevere and recovered patients.…”

“…In one of the included studies, urinary Se level was higher in severe and fatal cases compared with nonsevere and recovered patients. Overall, Se deficiency was thus generally associated with worse outcomes, and COVID-19 patients exhibited Se levels lower than healthy subjects [ 105 ].…”