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Published on: September 20, 2024
Bioinformatics and systems-biology approach to identify common pathogenic mechanisms for COVID-19 and systemic lupus
Yinlan Wu1,2,3, Yanhong Li1,2,3, Yu Zhou4
1Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Insights
This study reveals shared molecular pathways and hub genes between Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). These findings identify potential drug targets for treating COVID-19 and co-occurring SLE.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Genomics
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) shares clinical symptoms with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
- The pathological similarities and treatment strategies for co-infected patients remain unclear.
- This study investigates potential shared pathogenesis between COVID-19 and SLE.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze potential similar pathogenesis between SLE and COVID-19.
- To explore possible drug regimens for SLE patients with COVID-19.
- To identify common molecular targets and therapeutic candidates.
Main Methods:
- Utilized bioinformatics and systems biology approaches.
- Analyzed common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from COVID-19 and SLE transcriptome datasets.
- Performed functional enrichment, pathway analysis, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis to identify hub genes.
Main Results:
- Identified 325 common DEGs between COVID-19 and SLE.
- Discovered shared functional changes, hub genes, pathways, and regulatory networks.
- Identified numerous candidate drugs through drug target matching for COVID-19 and/or SLE patients.
Conclusions:
- COVID-19 and SLE patients exhibit common hub genes, pathways, and regulatory networks.
- Identified potential therapeutic drugs based on shared molecular targets.
- Findings offer insights into treating COVID-19 and co-existing SLE.
Background:
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought a heavy burden to the world, interestingly, it shares many clinical symptoms with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It is unclear whether there is a similar pathological process between COVID-9 and SLE. In addition, we don't know how to treat SLE patients with COVID-19. In this study, we analyse the potential similar pathogenesis between SLE and COVID-19 and explore their possible drug regimens using bioinformatics and systems biology approaches.
Methods:
The common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were extracted from the COVID-19 datasets and the SLE datasets for functional enrichment, pathway analysis and candidate drug analysis.
Result:
Based on the two transcriptome datasets between COVID-19 and SLE, 325 common DEGs were selected. Hub genes were identified by protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis. few found a variety of similar functional changes between COVID-19 and SLE, which may be related to the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Besides, we explored the related regulatory networks. Then, through drug target matching, we found many candidate drugs for patients with COVID-19 only or COVID-19 combined with SLE.
Conclusion:
COVID-19 and SLE patients share many common hub genes, related pathways and regulatory networks. Based on these common targets, we found many potential drugs that could be used in treating patient with COVID-19 or COVID-19 combined with SLE.
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