The Potential Impact of the Orexinergic System on the Symptoms of Coronavirus-Infected Patients

Coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID - 19) is a pandemic declared by the World Health Organization after its appearance in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 . It has infected more than 30 million people worldwide and led to the death of nearly one million of them. Orexin - A (OXA), a neuropeptide produced by the lateral hypothalamic area and several peripheral tissues, regulates appetite, reproduction, and other physiological functions. There are many symptoms associated with infection with the coronavirus, such as a cytokine storm, narcolepsy, impaired senses of smell and taste, and loss of appetite , usually are associated with high or low levels of OXA in the infected people. Moreover, some chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and obesity, generally r eferred to as risk factors for the disease, increase the severity of infection or even lead to death and they are associated with either an increase or a decrease in OXA levels. Moreover, some factors, such as a high testosterone level, facilitate the entr y of a virus into the cells, which OXA controls . In this review, we described for the first time the potential impact of high or low levels of OXA on the severity of the symptoms of COVID - 19 or the death due to this disease