Role of the receptor for advanced glycation end products in the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection in diabetic patients

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, is a severe disease in older adults and in individuals with associated comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus. Patients with diabetes infected with SARS-CoV-2 are more likely to develop severe pneumonia, hospitalization, and mortality compared with infected non-diabetic patients. During diabetes, hyperglycemia contributes to the maintenance of a low-grade inflammatory state which has been implicated in the microvascular and macrovascular complications associated with this pathology. The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is a multi-ligand pattern recognition receptor, expressed on a wide variety of cells, which participates as an important mediator of inflammatory responses in many diseases, including lung diseases. This review highlights the role of RAGE in the pathophysiology of COVID-19 with special emphasis on diabetic patients. These data could explain the severity of the disease, positioning it as a key therapeutic target in the clinical management of this infection.