A Comprehensive Study on SARS-CoV-2 Through Gene Expression Meta-Analysis and Network Biology Approach

Introduction: coronaviruses are significant pathogens of both human and animals and are globally distributed. out of seven covs strains, the most lethal coronavirus strains being portrayed is sars-cov-2. it can cause bronchial asthma, and severe pneumonia and acute respiratory disease. due to its contagion in infants, adults, and immunocompromised patients which further results in making this a deadly disease, thus there is an urgent need to develop effective and safe therapeutics against it.materials and methods: meta-analysis of publicly available gene expression datasets belonging to sars-cov-2, sars-cov, mers-cov and hcov-229e were carried out to identify the potential differentially expressed genes exclusively associated with sars-cov-2 and then a network model was developed to decipher significant drug targets, associated pathways and drug candidates which can be repurposed for this infection.results: the covid-19 infection mainly targets immune responses and regulatory processes. a novel role of relaxin signaling pathway was identified in sars-cov-2 infection. anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, nutraceutical and anthelmintic agents were found to be good prospective candidates for repurposing against covid-19.conclusions: this theoretical study resulted in the identification of approved drug targets that may have the potential to be repurposed for covid 19 treatment.