SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19: Viral Genomics, Epidemiology, Vaccines, and Therapeutic Interventions.

The COVID-19 pandemic is due to infection caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus that impacts the lower respiratory tract. The spectrum of symptoms ranges from asymptomatic infections to mild respiratory symptoms to the lethal form of COVID-19 which is associated with severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, and fatality. To address this global crisis, up-to-date information on viral genomics and transcriptomics is crucial for understanding the origins and global dispersion of the virus, providing insights into viral pathogenicity, transmission, and epidemiology, and enabling strategies for therapeutic interventions, drug discovery, and vaccine development. Therefore, this review provides a comprehensive overview of COVID-19 epidemiology, genomic etiology, findings from recent transcriptomic map analysis, viral-human protein interactions, molecular diagnostics, and the current status of vaccine and novel therapeutic intervention development. Moreover, we provide an extensive list of resources that will help the scientific community access numerous types of databases related to SARS-CoV-2 OMICs and approaches to therapeutics related to COVID-19 treatment.

Interferon-Induced Transmembrane Protein (IFITM3) Is Upregulated Explicitly in SARS-CoV-2 Infected Lung Epithelial Cells.

Current guidelines for COVID-19 management recommend the utilization of various repurposed drugs. Despite ongoing research toward the development of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, such a vaccine will not be available in time to contribute to the containment of the ongoing pandemic. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a framework for the rapid identification of novel targets for diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. We analyzed publicly available transcriptomic datasets of SARS-CoV infected humans and mammals to identify consistent differentially expressed genes then validated in SARS-CoV-2 infected epithelial cells transcriptomic datasets. Comprehensive toxicogenomic analysis of the identified genes to identify possible interactions with clinically proven drugs was carried out. We identified IFITM3 as an early upregulated gene, and valproic acid was found to enhance its mRNA expression as well as induce its antiviral action. These findings indicate that analysis of publicly available transcriptomic and toxicogenomic data represents a rapid approach for the identification of novel targets and molecules that can modify the action of such targets during the early phases of emerging infections like COVID-19.