Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic that has infected over a hundred million people globally. There have been more than two million deaths recorded worldwide, with no end in sight until a widespread vaccination will be achieved. Current research has centred on different aspects of the virus interaction with cell surface receptors, but more needs to be done to further understand its mechanism of action in order to develop a targeted therapy and a method to control the spread of the virus. Lipids play a crucial role throughout the viral life cycle, and viruses are known to exploit lipid signalling and synthesis to affect host cell lipidome. Emerging studies using untargeted metabolomic and lipidomic approaches are providing new insight into the host response to COVID-19 infection. Indeed, metabolomic and lipidomic approaches have identified numerous circulating lipids that directly correlate to the severity of the disease, making lipid metabolism a potential therapeutic target. Circulating lipids play a key function in the pathogenesis of the virus and exert an inflammatory response. A better knowledge of lipid metabolism in the host-pathogen interaction will provide valuable insights into viral pathogenesis and to the development of novel therapeutic targets.

严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒 2 (SARS-CoV-2) 是导致 COVID-19 大流行的原因，该大流行已在全球感染了超过一亿人。全世界记录的死亡人数已超过 200 万人，在实现广泛的疫苗接种之前，看不到尽头。目前的研究集中在病毒与细胞表面受体相互作用的不同方面，但还需要做更多工作以进一步了解其作用机制，以开发靶向治疗和控制病毒传播的方法。脂质在整个病毒生命周期中起着至关重要的作用，众所周知，病毒会利用脂质信号和合成来影响宿主细胞脂质组。使用非靶向代谢组学和脂质组学方法的新兴研究为宿主对 COVID-19 感染的反应提供了新的见解。的确，代谢组学和脂质组学方法已经确定了许多与疾病严重程度直接相关的循环脂质，使脂质代谢成为潜在的治疗靶点。循环脂质在病毒的发病机制中发挥关键作用，并发挥炎症反应。更好地了解宿主-病原体相互作用中的脂质代谢将为病毒发病机制和新治疗靶点的开发提供有价值的见解。