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

The development of new antiviral therapeutics requires a greater understanding of the global host response when challenged by different types of viruses. Such knowledge may lead to the identification of novel human genome targets that are shared across multiple viral infections as well as opportunities for repositioning existing drugs for the treatment of infectious diseases [20] . Several recent studies have generated multiple mRNA microarray gene expression datasets derived from experiments involving the infection of human cell-lines or animal models with one or more of the major respiratory viruses [21] [22] [23] . Through a systematic analysis of these respiratory virus-human host gene expression datasets, we determined common sets of genes and pathways involved in host responses to viral infections. Among the most significant pathways, we identified several potential new opportunities for repurposing existing drugs for the treatment of respiratory viral infections.