Identifying the Interaction Between Tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2 Infections via Bioinformatics Analysis and Machine Learning

In-silico discovery of common molecular signatures for which SARS-CoV-2 infections and lung diseases stimulate each other, and drug repurposing

“…Some of these studies detected shared key-genes (sKGs) to disclose common pathogenetic processes of SARS-CoV-2 infections with one or two lung diseases including COPD [ 13 ], IPF [ 6 ], COPD and IPF [ 13 ], ILD [ 7 ], asthma [ 18 ], tuberculosis [ 19 ], cystic fibrosis [ 20 ], pneumonia [ 21 ], emphysema [ 13 ], and bronchitis [ 13 ]. Few of these studies recommended sKGs-guided common drug molecules in which molecules (curcumin, triclosan, tamoxifen, deguelin) were recommended for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections with COPD [ 13 ], molecules (tegobuvir, nilotinib, digoxin, proscillaridin, simeprevir, sorafenib, torin 2, rapamycin, vancomycin and hesperidin) with IPF [ 6 ], molecules (suloctidil, estradiol, prenylamine, clioquinol) with asthma [ 18 ], molecules (rituximab, bevacizumab, bosentan, sitaxentan, and macitentana) with tuberculosis [ 19 ], molecules (imiquimod and raloxifene) with cystic fibrosis [ 20 ]. However, so far, there is no study that explored sKGs/sDEGs to disclose common pathogenetic mechanisms and associated drug molecules for SARS-CoV-2 infections and different lung diseases.…”