Abstract
AbstractImmune dysregulation and cytokine release syndrome have emerged as pathological hallmarks of severe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), leading to the evaluation of cytokine antagonists as therapeutic agents. A number of immune-directed therapies being considered for COVID-19 patients are already in clinical use in chronic inflammatory conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). These considerations led us to systematically examine the intersections between COVID-19 and the GI tract during health and intestinal inflammation. We have observed that IBD medications, both biologic and non-biologic, do not significantly impact ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression in the uninflamed intestines. Additionally, by comparing SARS CoV2-induced epithelial gene signatures with IBD-associated genes, we have identified a shared molecular subnetwork between COVID-19 and IBD. These data generate a novel appreciation of the confluence of COVID-19- and IBD-associated inflammation and provide mechanistic insights supporting further investigation of specific IBD drugs in the treatment of COVID-19.
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Reference62 articles.
1. The species Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus: classifying 2019-nCoV and naming it SARS-CoV-2;Nature Microbiology,2020
2. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report – 51: World Health Organization.
3. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19):Symptoms of Coronavirus: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020.
4. Zhang H , Kang Z , Gong H , et al. The digestive system is a potential route of 2019-nCov infection: a bioinformatics analysis based on single-cell transcriptomes. bioRxiv 2020.
5. Jin X , Lian J-S , Hu J-H , et al. Epidemiological, clinical and virological characteristics of 74 cases of coronavirus-infected disease 2019 (COVID-19) with gastrointestinal symptoms. Gut 2020.