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Updated: Dec 15, 2025
JUMPn: A Streamlined Application for Protein Co-Expression Clustering and Network Analysis in Proteomics
Published on: October 19, 2021
Proteome-wide data analysis reveals tissue-specific network associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection
Li Feng1,2, Yuan-Yuan Yin1,2, Cong-Hui Liu1
1CAS Key Laboratory of Systems Biology, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Center for Excellence in Mollecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
Abstract:
For patients with COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the damages to multiple organs have been clinically observed. Since most of current investigations for virus-host interaction are based on cell level, there is an urgent demand to probe tissue-specific features associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Based on collected proteomic datasets from human lung, colon, kidney, liver, and heart, we constructed a virus-receptor network, a virus-interaction network, and a virus-perturbation network. In the tissue-specific networks associated with virus-host crosstalk, both common and different key hubs are revealed in diverse tissues. Ubiquitous hubs in multiple tissues such as BRD4 and RIPK1 would be promising drug targets to rescue multi-organ injury and deal with inflammation. Certain tissue-unique hubs such as REEP5 might mediate specific olfactory dysfunction. The present analysis implies that SARS-CoV-2 could affect multi-targets in diverse host tissues, and the treatment of COVID-19 would be a complex task.
Insights
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes multi-organ damage. This study reveals tissue-specific virus-host interactions, identifying potential drug targets like BRD4 and RIPK1 for COVID-19 treatment.
Area of Science:
- Virology
- Immunology
- Systems Biology
Background:
- Clinical observations show severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes multi-organ damage.
- Current virus-host interaction research primarily focuses on cellular levels, lacking tissue-specific insights.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate tissue-specific virus-host interactions in COVID-19.
- To identify potential therapeutic targets for multi-organ injury caused by SARS-CoV-2.
Main Methods:
- Construction of virus-receptor, virus-interaction, and virus-perturbation networks.
- Analysis of proteomic datasets from human lung, colon, kidney, liver, and heart tissues.
Main Results:
- Identification of both common and distinct key hubs in SARS-CoV-2 infection across different tissues.
- Ubiquitous hubs (e.g., BRD4, RIPK1) identified as potential targets for multi-organ injury and inflammation.
- Tissue-unique hubs (e.g., REEP5) implicated in specific symptoms like olfactory dysfunction.
Conclusions:
- SARS-CoV-2 impacts multiple targets in diverse host tissues, highlighting the complexity of COVID-19.
- Targeting identified hubs may offer strategies for treating multi-organ damage and inflammation in COVID-19 patients.
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