Abstract
BackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global public health concern. Recently, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed with participants recruited from Italy and Spain by an international consortium group.MethodsSummary GWAS statistics for 1610 patients with COVID-19 respiratory failure and 2205 controls were downloaded. In the current study, we analyzed the summary statistics with the information of loci and p-values for 8,582,968 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), using gene ontology analysis to determine the top biological processes implicated in respiratory failure in COVID-19 patients.ResultsWe considered the top 708 SNPs, using a p-value cutoff of 5 × 10− 5, which were mapped to the nearest genes, leading to 144 unique genes. The list of genes was input into a curated database to conduct gene ontology and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analyses. The top ranked biological processes were wound healing, epithelial structure maintenance, muscle system processes, and cardiac-relevant biological processes with a false discovery rate < 0.05. In the PPI analysis, the largest connected network consisted of 8 genes. Through a literature search, 7 out of the 8 gene products were found to be implicated in both pulmonary and cardiac diseases.ConclusionGene ontology and PPI analyses identified cardio-pulmonary processes that may partially explain the risk of respiratory failure in COVID-19 patients.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global public health concern
The genome-wide association study (GWAS) conducted by an international consortium group involved 1980 patients with severe acute respiratory failure induced by COVID-19 at seven hospitals in Italy and Spain [7]
Gene ontology analysis In our analysis, with a p-value threshold of 5 × 10− 5 applied to the summary statistics, 708 Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) remained and a corresponding set of 144 unique genes in autosomes was found (Additional file 1)
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global public health concern. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by a novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in a global pandemic with a rapidly developing global health and economic crisis [1]. About 5% of patients infected with the coronavirus develop acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome, possibly leading to lethal lung damage and even death [3]. The most common reported comorbidities associated with poor outcomes in COVID-19 include hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic respiratory infections [4, 5]. To identify putative biomarkers that can help better understand the molecular basis of COVID-19, BlancoMelo et al investigated the host transcriptional response to SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infections through in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo experiments [1].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
