Researchers from Wenzhou, China looked at clinical laboratory features including lipid levels of patients with COVID 19. They found dramatic reductions in the cholesterol levels of patients infected with COVID 19, compared with healthy controls (1)
The study provides data to suggest that cholesterol levels decline quite rapidly during the early stages of infection and increase as the patient starts to recover. Therefore, indicating that cholesterol may have an important role to play in defending the body against such infections.
TC: TOTAL CHOLESTEROL
This perhaps, should not be a surprise, since we already know that cholesterol is an extremely important part of the immune system.
Back in 1997, researchers in the Netherlands published an article in the Lancet showing elderly people with the highest cholesterol levels are best protected from cancer and infections (2).
Other research, published in 2013, led by the University of California, found that derivatives of cholesterol play an important role in the immune system and could protect humans from a wide range of viruses, such as: Ebola, Rift Valley Fever, Nipah, and other deadly pathogens (3).
Two other studies in 2016 found that cholesterol-lowering statins impair the immune system and block the effectiveness of the flu vaccine (4 , 5).
References
This study has been submitted to the Lancet medical journal and is still awaiting publication, however, the preliminary report can be seen in full here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3544826
Influence of Statins on Influenza Vaccine Response in Elderly Individuals