Identification of Common Biological Pathways and Drug Targets Across Multiple Respiratory Viruses Based on Human Host Gene Expression Analysis

Smith, Steven B.; Dampier, William; Tozeren, Aydin; Brown, James R.; Magid-Slav, Michal

Individuals may experience a co-infection or sequential infections of multiple viruses or bacteria which can complicate both disease diagnosis and drug prescription decisions. Furthermore, patients infected by multiple pathogens may have further complications due to drug-drug interactions, cumulative drug toxicities and immune system suppression, as observed during HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis co-infections [18, 19] . Indeed, a study in children under five years showed pervasive clinical occurrences of co-infections involving combinations of RSV, HRV, Paramyxoviridae Parainfluenza Virus, FLU, Coronaviridae SARS-Coronavirus (CORON), Paramyxoviridae Metapneumonia virus (MPNEU), Parvoviridae Human Bocavirus and ADENO [4] . Therefore, in addition to minimizing drug resistance, there is a need for new therapeutic approaches to safely and effectively treat co-infections by multiple viral and/or bacterial pathogens, particularly where strain-specific diagnostics or treatments are unavailable.