Looking for pathways related to COVID-19: confirmation of pathogenic mechanisms by SARS-CoV-2–host interactome

Messina, Francesco; Giombini, Emanuela; Montaldo, Chiara; Sharma, Ashish Arunkumar; Zoccoli, Antonio; Sekaly, Rafick-Pierre; Locatelli, Franco; Zumla, Alimuddin; Maeurer, Markus; Capobianchi, Maria R.; Lauria, Francesco Nicola; Ippolito, Giuseppe

In the last months, many studies have clearly described several mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 infection at cell and tissue level, but the mechanisms of interaction between host and SARS-CoV-2, determining the grade of COVID-19 severity, are still unknown. We provide a network analysis on protein–protein interactions (PPI) between viral and host proteins to better identify host biological responses, induced by both whole proteome of SARS-CoV-2 and specific viral proteins. A host-virus interactome was inferred, applying an explorative algorithm (Random Walk with Restart, RWR) triggered by 28 proteins of SARS-CoV-2. The analysis of PPI allowed to estimate the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in the host cell. Interactome built around one single viral protein allowed to define a different response, underlining as ORF8 and ORF3a modulated cardiovascular diseases and pro-inflammatory pathways, respectively. Finally, the network-based approach highlighted a possible direct action of ORF3a and NS7b to enhancing Bradykinin Storm. This network-based representation of SARS-CoV-2 infection could be a framework for pathogenic evaluation of specific clinical outcomes. We identified possible host responses induced by specific proteins of SARS-CoV-2, underlining the important role of specific viral accessory proteins in pathogenic phenotypes of severe COVID-19 patients.