Organ-specific or personalized treatment for COVID-19: rationale, evidence, and potential candidates

• Published in: Functional & integrative genomics 2022-06, Vol.22 (3), p.429-433
• Main Authors: Mousavi, Seyedeh Zahra, Rahmanian, Mojdeh, Sami, Ashkan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alveoli; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Biochemistry; Bioinformatics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Cell Line; Choroid plexus; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - drug therapy; Drug development; Hepatocytes; Humans; Life Sciences; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Organoids; Pathophysiology; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Pluripotency; Precision Medicine; Protein Interaction Maps; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Short Communication; Stem cells
• ISSN: 1438-793X; 1438-7948
• DOI: 10.1007/s10142-022-00841-z

Although extrapulmonary manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are increasingly reported, no effective therapeutic strategy for these multisystemic complications is available due to a poor understanding of the pathophysiology of COVID-19 multiorgan involvement. In this study, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected extrapulmonary organs including human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs)-derived liver organoids and choroid plexus organoids besides transformed lung alveolar (A549) cells were analyzed. First, pathway enrichment analysis was done to compare the underlying biological pathways enriched upon SARS-CoV-2 infection in different organs. Then, these lists of DEGs were used in a connectivity map (CMap)-based drug repurposing experiment. Also, protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis was done to compare the associated hub genes. The results revealed different biological pathways and genes responsible for SARS-CoV-2 multisystemic pathogenesis based on the organ involved that highlighted the need for considering organ-specific treatments or even personalized therapy. Besides, some FDA-approved drugs were proposed as the potential therapeutic candidates for each infected cell line.