Exploration of the Link Between COVID-19 and Alcoholic Hepatitis from the Perspective of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology

Abstract

Objective: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been suggested to purpose threats to health of mankind. Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is a life-threatening acute and chronic liver failure that takes place in sufferers who drink excessively. During the epidemic, AH has an increasing incidence of severe illness and mortality. However, for these two diseases, the intrinsic relationship of molecular pathogenesis, as well as common therapeutic strategies are still poorly understood. Methods: The transcriptome of the COVID-19 and AH has been compared to obtain the altered genes and hub genes were screened out through protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. Via gene ontology (GO), pathway enrichment and transcription regulator analysis, a deeper appreciation of the interplay mechanism between hub genes were established. Results: With 181 common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of AH and COVID-19 were obtained, 10 hub genes were captured. Follow-up studies located that these 10 genes typically mediated the diseases occurrence by regulating the activities of the immune system. Other results suggest that the common pathways of the two ailments are enriched in regulating the function of immune cells and the release of immune molecules. Conclusion: This study reveals the common pathogenesis of COVID-19 and AH and assist to discover necessary therapeutic targets to combat the ongoing pandemic induced via SARS-CoV-2 infection and acquire promising remedy strategies for the two diseases.

Investigation of the relationship between COVID-19 and pancreatic cancer using bioinformatics and systems biology approaches

“…Proteins are the most critical elements of an organism’s biological function; they do not perform their functions alone, but interact with other proteins and molecules. [ 25 ] STRING ( https://www.string-db.org/ ) (11.5 version) is a database designed to integrate all known and predicted associations between proteins, including physical interactions and functional associations. [ 26 ] The common DEGs were analyzed, and the PPI network was constructed with a comprehensive score >0.4 in this research.…”

Bioinformatics and system biology approaches to determine the connection of SARS-CoV-2 infection and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

“…Patients with severe COVID-19 seem to have higher rates of liver dysfunction [ 6 ]. Patients with liver dysfunction are identified to have high risk of developing severe COVID-19 [ 7 , 8 ]. Clinical data also demonstrate that patients with comorbidities fare worse than those without them [ 9 , 10 ].…”

Demonstration of the impact of COVID-19 on metabolic associated fatty liver disease by bioinformatics and system biology approach

“…[ 18 ] Systems biology is an approach in biomedical research to understanding the interaction of the organism, tissue, or cell in a systematic and integral view. [ 19 ] Bioinformatics and system biology approach open a new way tounderstand biological problems.…”