Instituto Universitario de Matemáticas y Aplicaciones, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain and ARAID Foundation, Government of Aragón, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain.
Chaos. 2020 Aug;30(8):081104. doi: 10.1063/5.0015626.
The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) respiratory disease is caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), which uses the enzyme ACE2 to enter human cells. This disease is characterized by important damage at a multi-organ level, partially due to the abundant expression of ACE2 in practically all human tissues. However, not every organ in which ACE2 is abundant is affected by SARS-CoV-2, which suggests the existence of other multi-organ routes for transmitting the perturbations produced by the virus. We consider here diffusive processes through the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of proteins targeted by SARS-CoV-2 as an alternative route. We found a subdiffusive regime that allows the propagation of virus perturbations through the PPI network at a significant rate. By following the main subdiffusive routes across the PPI network, we identify proteins mainly expressed in the heart, cerebral cortex, thymus, testis, lymph node, kidney, among others of the organs reported to be affected by COVID-19.
2019 年冠状病毒（COVID-19）呼吸道疾病是由新型冠状病毒 SARS-CoV-2（严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒 2）引起的，该病毒使用酶 ACE2 进入人体细胞。这种疾病的特点是在多器官水平上有重要的损伤，部分原因是 ACE2 在几乎所有人体组织中都大量表达。然而，并非所有 ACE2 丰富的器官都受到 SARS-CoV-2 的影响，这表明存在其他多器官途径来传播病毒产生的干扰。我们在这里考虑通过 SARS-CoV-2 靶向的蛋白质的蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用（PPI）网络的扩散过程作为一种替代途径。我们发现了一个亚扩散状态，允许病毒干扰通过 PPI 网络以显著的速率传播。通过沿着 PPI 网络的主要亚扩散路径，我们鉴定出主要在心脏、大脑皮层、胸腺、睾丸、淋巴结、肾脏等被报道受 COVID-19 影响的器官中表达的蛋白质。
