Bioinformatics and system biology approach to discover the common pathogenetic processes between COVID-19 and chronic hepatitis B.

INTRODUCTION

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), presents a significant global public health threat. Concurrently, hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a significant public health challenge. While previous studies have indicated an association between COVID-19 and chronic hepatitis B, the common underlying pathogenesis of these diseases remains incompletely understood.

METHODS

To investigate the shared molecular mechanisms between chronic HBV infection and COVID-19, a comprehensive investigation was conducted using bioinformatics and systems biology. Specifically, we utilized RNA-seq datasets (GSE196822 and GSE83148) to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with both SARS-CoV-2 and HBV infection. Subsequently, these common DEGs were utilized to identify shared pathways, hub genes, transcriptional regulatory networks, and potential drugs. The differential expression of hub genes in both COVID-19 and HBV was verified using the GSE171110 and GSE94660 datasets, respectively.

RESULTS

From the 106 shared DEGs identified, immune-related pathways were found to play a role in the development and progression of chronic hepatitis B and COVID-19. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis revealed 8 hub genes: CDK1, E2F7, E2F8, TYMS, KIF20A, CENPE, TPX2, HMMR, CD8A, GZMA. In the validation set, the expression of hub genes was statistically significant in both the COVID-19 group and the HBV group compared with the healthy control group. Transcriptional regulatory network analysis identified 155 microRNAs (miRNAs) and 43 transcription factors (TFs) as potential regulatory signals. Notably, we identified potential therapeutic drugs for HBV chronic infection and COVID-19, including progesterone, estradiol, dasatinib, aspirin, etoposide, irinotecan hydrochloride, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, lucanthone, calcitriol.

CONCLUSION

This research elucidates potential molecular targets, signaling pathways, and promising small molecule compounds that could aid in the treatment of chronic HBV infection and COVID-19.