4.7 Review

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

Journal

JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY
Volume 93, Issue 4, Pages 1950-1966

Publisher

WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/jmv.26707

Keywords

BCG vaccine; COVID-19; differentially expressed genes; in silico analysis; networking; pathways

Categories

Ask authors/readers for more resources

The study investigated the potential protective role of BCG vaccination against COVID-19 by analyzing gene expression pathways using a bioinformatics approach. Results showed an overlap in immune and inflammatory pathways between the BCG-vaccinated group and the SARS-CoV-2 infection group, suggesting a possible mechanism for the protective effect of BCG vaccination against COVID-19.
To investigate the relationship between Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 by a bioinformatics approach, two datasets for the 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, the correlation between post-BCG vaccination and COVID-19 transcriptome signatures was 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, a cross-reference of upregulated Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes 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 interleukin-17, tumor necrosis factor, NOD-like receptors, and nuclear factor-kappa B signaling pathways. Given the inverse relationship of the specific differentially expressed gene pathways highlighted in our results, the BCG-vaccine may play a protective role against COVID-19 by mounting a nonspecific immunological response and further investigation of this relationship is warranted.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.7
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available