ABSTRACT
Transcriptomics, proteomics and pathogen-host interactomics data are being explored for the in silico-informed selection of drugs, prior to their functional evaluation. The effectiveness of this kind of strategy has been put to the test in the current COVID-19 pandemic, and it has been paying off, leading to a few drugs being rapidly repurposed as treatment against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Several neglected tropical diseases, for which treatment remains unavailable, would benefit from informed in silico investigations of drugs, as performed in this work for Dengue fever disease. We analyzed transcriptomic data in the key tissues of liver, spleen and blood profiles and verified that despite transcriptomic differences due to tissue specialization, the common mechanisms of action, "Adrenergic receptor antagonist", "ATPase inhibitor", "NF-kB pathway inhibitor" and "Serotonin receptor antagonist", were identified as druggable (e.g., oxprenolol, digoxin, auranofin and palonosetron, respectively) to oppose the effects of severe Dengue infection in these tissues. These are good candidates for future functional evaluation and clinical trials.
Subject(s)
Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use , Dengue/drug therapy , Transcriptome , Adenosine Triphosphatases/antagonists & inhibitors , Adrenergic Antagonists/pharmacology , Adrenergic Antagonists/therapeutic use , Antiviral Agents/pharmacology , Brain/metabolism , Computer Simulation , Dengue/blood , Dengue/genetics , Dengue/metabolism , Drug Discovery , Drug Evaluation, Preclinical , Drug Repositioning , Humans , Liver/metabolism , Metabolic Networks and Pathways/drug effects , NF-kappa B/metabolism , Serotonin Antagonists/pharmacology , Serotonin Antagonists/therapeutic use , Severe Dengue/blood , Severe Dengue/drug therapy , Severe Dengue/genetics , Severe Dengue/metabolism , Spleen/metabolismABSTRACT
Early recognition of severe forms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is essential for an opportune and effective intervention, reducing life-risking complications. An altered inflammatory immune response seems to be associated with COVID-19's pathogenesis and progression to severity. Here we demonstrate the utility of early nasopharyngeal swab samples for detection of the early expression of immune markers and the potential value of CCL2/MCP-1 in predicting disease outcome.