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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.06.09.142760

Hidden in plain sight: The effects of BCG vaccination in COVID-19 pandemic

Toriah, E. A.·Sedhom, J. A.·Dokunmu, T. M.·Hussein, M. H.·Ruiz, E. M.·Muthusamy, K.·Zerfaoui, M.·Kandil, E.
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Abstract

To investigate the relationship between BCG vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 by bioinformatic approach. Two datasets for Sars-CoV-2 infection group and BCG-vaccinated group were downloaded. Differentially Expressed Genes were identified. Gene ontology and pathways were functionally enriched, and networking was constructed in NetworkAnalyst. Lastly, correlation between post-BCG vaccination and COVID-19 transcriptome signatures were established. A total of 161 DEGs (113 upregulated DEGs and 48 downregulated genes) were identified in the Sars-CoV-2 group. In the pathway enrichment analysis, cross-reference of upregulated KEGG pathways in Sars-CoV-2 with downregulated counterparts in the BCG-vaccinated group, resulted in the intersection of 45 common pathways, accounting for 86.5% of SARS-CoV-2 upregulated pathways. Of these intersecting pathways, a vast majority were immune and inflammatory pathways with top significance in IL-17, TNF, NOD-like receptors, and NF-{kappa}B signaling pathways. Our data suggests BCG-vaccination may incur a protective role in COVID-19 patients until a targeted vaccine is developed. Supplementary Materials(https://drive.google.com/open?id=15Na738L282XNaQAJUh0cZf1WoG9jJfzJ)

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Toriah, E. A., Sedhom, J. A., Dokunmu, T. M., Hussein, M. H., Ruiz, E. M., Muthusamy, K., Zerfaoui, M., Kandil, E.. 2020-06-12. Hidden in plain sight: The effects of BCG vaccination in COVID-19 pandemic. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.09.142760

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