Open AccessAn integrative analysis identifying transcriptional features and key genes involved in COVID-19
Author(s) -
Guoping Li,
Junyi Wang,
Xiang He,
Lei Zhang,
Ran Qin,
Anying Xiong,
Die Wu,
Lingjuan Hu,
Qibin Song,
Dong Mei Zhu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
epigenomics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.265
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1750-1911
pISSN - 1750-192X
DOI - 10.2217/epi-2020-0168
Subject(s) - biology , gene , covid-19 , immune system , transcriptome , bronchoalveolar lavage , computational biology , stat1 , genetics , immunology , gene expression , lung , virology , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , medicine , pathology , outbreak
Aim: To elucidate the transcriptional characteristics of COVID-19. Materials & methods: We utilized an integrative approach to comprehensively analyze the transcriptional features of both COVID-19 patients and SARS-CoV-2 infected cells. Results: Widespread infiltration of immune cells was observed. We identified 233 genes that were codifferentially expressed in both bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and lung samples of COVID-19 patients. Functional analysis suggested upregulated genes were related to immune response such as neutrophil activation and antivirus response, while downregulated genes were associated with cell adhesion. Finally, we identified LCN2 , STAT1 and UBE2L6 as core genes during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusion: The identification of core genes involved in COVID-19 can provide us with more insights into the molecular features of COVID-19.