Comorbidities and Susceptibility to COVID-19: A Generalized Gene Set Meta-Analysis Approach

Beckman, M. F.; Igba, C. K.; Mougeot, F. B.; Mougeot, J.-L.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led to over 820,000 deaths for almost 24 million confirmed cases worldwide, as of August 27th, 2020, per WHO report. Risk factors include pre-existing conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. There are currently no effective treatments. Our objective was to complete a meta-analysis to identify comorbidity-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), potentially conferring increased susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection using a computational approach. Results SNP datasets were downloaded from publicly available GWAS catalog for 141 of 258 candidate COVID-19 comorbidities. Gene-level SNP analysis was performed to identify significant pathways by using MAGMA program. SNP annotation program was used to analyze MAGMA-identified genes. COVID-19 comorbidities from six disease categories were found to have significant associated pathways, which were validated by Q-Q plots (p<0.05). The top 250 human mRNA gene expressions for SNP-affected pathways, extracted from publicly accessible gene expression profiles, were evaluated for significant pathways. Protein-protein interactions of identified differentially expressed genes, visualized with STRING program, were significant (p<0.05). Gene interaction networks were found to be relevant to SARS and influenza pathogenesis. Conclusion Pathways potentially affected by or affecting SARS-CoV-2 infection were identified in underlying medical conditions likely to confer susceptibility and/or severity to COVID-19. Our findings have implications in COVID-19 treatment development. Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, comorbidity, susceptibility, severity