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Updated: Nov 2, 2025
Viral Transgene Expression in Rodent Hearts and the Assessment of Cardiac Arrhythmia Risk
Published on: July 27, 2022
A bioinformatics approach for identifying potential molecular mechanisms and key genes involved in COVID-19
1Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Science, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
Insights
This study identified key genes like FGF2, JUN, TLR4, and VEGFA involved in COVID-19 heart damage. These findings aid in understanding and treating long-term cardiovascular effects of the disease.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Research
- Genomics
- Infectious Diseases
Background:
- Severe cases of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) can affect multiple organs, including the heart.
- Cardiovascular manifestations associated with COVID-19 require further investigation to understand underlying mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify candidate genes implicated in COVID-19-associated cardiac damage using bioinformatics approaches.
- To uncover shared genetic factors between COVID-19 and inflammatory cardiomyopathy.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of transcriptome profiles from COVID-19 patients (GEO datasets GSE150392 and GSE4172).
- Identification of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), followed by enrichment and pathway analyses.
- Construction and analysis of a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network using Cytoscape to identify hub genes.
Main Results:
- A total of 228 overlapping DEGs (136 upregulated, 92 downregulated) were identified between the two datasets.
- Key hub genes, including FGF2, JUN, TLR4, and VEGFA, were identified as critical in the PPI network.
- These core genes are shared between inflammatory cardiomyopathy and SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Conclusions:
- The identified hub genes (FGF2, JUN, TLR4, VEGFA) are crucial for understanding COVID-19-related heart damage.
- These findings offer potential targets for diagnosing and managing long-term cardiovascular complications of COVID-19.
- Understanding these shared genetic mechanisms can guide the development of targeted therapies.
Abstract:
In 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), whose main complication is respiratory involvement, different organs may also be affected in severe cases. However, COVID-19 associated cardiovascular manifestations are limited at present. The main purpose of this study was to identify potential candidate genes involved in COVID-19-associated heart damage by bioinformatics analysis. Differently expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using transcriptome profiles (GSE150392 and GSE4172) downloaded from the GEO database. After gene and pathway enrichment analyses, PPI network visualization, module analyses, and hub gene extraction were performed using Cytoscape software. A total of 228 (136 up and 92 downregulated) overlapping DEGs were identified at these two microarray datasets. Finally, the top hub genes (FGF2, JUN, TLR4, and VEGFA) were screened out as the critical genes among the DEGs from the PPI network. Identification of critical genes and mechanisms in any disease can lead us to better diagnosis and targeted therapy. Our findings identified core genes shared by inflammatory cardiomyopathy and SARS-CoV-2. The findings of the current study support the idea that these key genes can be used in understanding and managing the long-term cardiovascular effects of COVID-19.
