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Updated: Nov 6, 2025

Immunometabolic Circuits in Infection for Advancing Host Directed Therapies
Published on: September 13, 2024
Functional and tissue enrichment analyses suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection affects host metabolism and catabolism
1Bioinformatics and Bio-Data Science Division, Health Informatics Department, Universidade Federal de São Paulo-UNIFESP, Rua Botucatu 862 - Prédio Leal Prado (térreo), São Paulo, SP, CEP: 04023-062, Brazil. luciano.lopes@unifesp.br.
Abstract:
Infection by SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, is critically connected with host metabolism. Through functional enrichment analysis, the present study aims to evaluate the biological processes involving host proteins interfered by SARS-CoV-2 to verify the potential metabolic impact of the infection. Furthermore, tissue enrichment analyses and differential gene expression of host proteins were applied to understand the interference by SARS-CoV-2 on tissue levels. Results based on functional and tissue-specific enrichment analyses, presented in this study, suggest that SARS-CoV-2, mediated interference on host proteins, can affect the metabolism and catabolism of molecular building blocks and control intracellular mechanisms, including gene expression in metabolism-related organs, to support viral demands. Thus, SARS-CoV-2 can broadly affect the host metabolism and catabolism at tissue and physiological levels contributing to a more severe disease.
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