An Omics Strategy for Translational Bioinformatics and Rapid COVID-19 Drug Repurposing

As COVID-19 continues to evolve around the world, there are unmet needs for rapid discovery, repurposing, and development of antiviral drugs. COVID-19 drug development is relevant for acute/pandemic context as well as the endemic disease with SARS-CoV-2 going forward. In the present study, the transcriptome data of the SARS-CoV-2-infected human lung cell lines were used to identify the signature genes for COVID-19 infection. A set of 14 genes was considered as gene signatures from the SARS-CoV-2-infected human bronchial epithelial cells and human alveolar epithelial cell lines. With a translational bioinformatics approach based on reversal of differentially expressed gene signatures, we found that four Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs offer potential for repurposing in a context of COVID-19: Mitomycin, 4-Guanidino-Benzoic Acid, Etretinate, and Staurosporine. We suggest that these drugs warrant further consideration for possible repurposing for the treatment of COVID-19. In summary, the present study underlines the ways in which an omics approach can be harnessed toward translational bioinformatics and rapid COVID-19 drug repurposing.