# Alternative complement pathway regulation of beta cell homeostasis

> **NIH NIH R01** · WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV · 2020 · $372,799

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) is a worldwide pandemic that quickly grew from
the end of 2019 to more than 5.6 million confirmed cases as of late May 2020. The number
of cases is approaching 1.7 million with over 100,000 deaths in our country. Within the
United States, there is tremendous regional variability in the prevalence of COVID-19 with
New York State and specifically the New York City metro area being particularly hard hit.
The demographic risk factors for adverse outcomes such as need for mechanical
ventilation and mortality in COVID-19 include diabetes and obesity. Hyperglycemia in
COVID-19 is associated with poor outcomes; however, the mechanism for hyperglycemia
remains unknown. Emerging evidence show that SARS-CoV-2 could infect cells outside
of the nasopharynx and lungs. ACE2 is a coreceptor for SARS-CoV-2 and is expressed
on pancreatic islet cells, including beta cells. We hypothesize that SARS-CoV-2 directly
infects beta cells to cause beta cell dysfunction and acute hyperglycemia. We propose to
define the physiological mechanism of hyperglycemia in COVID-19 patients assessing
samples from a large biobank. Understanding the mechanism for hyperglycemia may
translate into clinical treatments that may improve care of COVID-19 patients.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10221291
- **Project number:** 3R01DK121140-01A1S1
- **Recipient organization:** WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV
- **Principal Investigator:** James C Lo
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $372,799
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-01-06 → 2023-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10221291

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10221291, Alternative complement pathway regulation of beta cell homeostasis (3R01DK121140-01A1S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10221291. Licensed CC0.

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