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Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.2478/aiht-2022-73-3631

Joint impact of key air pollutants on COVID-19 severity: prediction based on toxicogenomic data analysis

Danijela Đukić-Ćosić ; University of Belgrade Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Belgrade, Serbia
Katarina Baralić ; University of Belgrade Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Belgrade, Serbia
Teodora Filipović ; University of Belgrade Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Belgrade, Serbia
Dragica Božić ; University of Belgrade Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Belgrade, Serbia
Katarina Živančević ; University of Belgrade Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Belgrade, Serbia
Evica Antonijević Miljaković ; University of Belgrade Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Belgrade, Serbia
Aleksandra Buha Đorđević ; University of Belgrade Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Belgrade, Serbia
Zorica Bulat ; University of Belgrade Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Belgrade, Serbia
Biljana Antonijević ; University of Belgrade Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Belgrade, Serbia
Marijana Ćurčić ; University of Belgrade Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Belgrade, Serbia


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Abstract

Considering that some researchers point to a possible influence of air pollution on COVID-19 transmission, severity, and death rate, the aim of our in silico study was to determine the relationship between the key air pollutants [sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PMx), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3)] and COVID-19 complications using the publicly available toxicogenomic analytical and prediction tools: (i) Comparative Toxicogenomic Database (CTD) to identify genes common to air pollutants and COVID-19 complications; (ii) GeneMANIA to construct a network of these common and related genes; (iii) ToppGene Suite to extract the most important biological processes and molecular pathways; and (iv) DisGeNET to search for the top gene-disease pairs. SO2, CO, PMx, NO2, and O3 interacted with 6, 6, 18, 9, and 12 COVID-19-related genes, respectively. Four of these are common for all pollutants (IL10, IL6, IL1B, and TNF) and participate in most (77.64 %) physical interactions. Further analysis pointed to cytokine binding and cytokine-mediated signalling pathway as the most important molecular function and biological process, respectively. Other molecular functions and biologica processes are mostly related to cytokine activity and inflammation, which might be connected to the cytokine storm and resulting COVID-19 complications. The final step singled out the link between the CEBPA gene and acute myelocytic leukaemia and between TNFRSF1A and TNF receptor-associated periodic fever syndrome. This indicates possible complications in COVID-19 patients suffering from these diseases, especially those living in urban areas with poor air quality.

Keywords

carbon monoxide; cytokines; disease complications; in silico; nitrogen dioxide; ozone; particulate matter; SARS-CoV-2; sulphur dioxide

Hrčak ID:

279719

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/279719

Publication date:

27.6.2022.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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