The role of biotin metabolism in the COVID-19 infection

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has become the major health problem in 2020 worldwide and no treatment or cure has been developed until now, however medical doctors use approved anti-viral drugs alone or in combination to treat patients infected by COVID-19. Thus, the outcome and the information of the applied treatments are changing daily basis. One of the changes in the COVID-19 patients has been depilation of the eyebrow and eyelashes. Biotin is a vital cofactor for biotin-dependent enzymes for fatty acids, amino acids, and glucose metabolism. It is known that, biotin deficiency may cause loss of hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. However, either COVID-19 infection or treatment against to cure this infection cause impairment in the biotin metabolism that should be further investigated to better understand possible mechanisms behind the COVID-19 infection and outcomes of the treatment approach to treat it.