Network analytics for drug repurposing in COVID-19

TL;DR

This paper uses network analysis of protein interactions to identify potential drug targets for COVID-19, providing new insights into therapy options and demonstrating a method applicable to other diseases.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive network-based approach to identify drug repurposing targets for COVID-19 by integrating host factors, drug targets, and interaction data.

Findings

Validated drug targets against clinical data

Identified effective drug combinations for host control

Proposed a generalizable method for other diseases

Abstract

To better understand the potential of drug repurposing in COVID-19, we analyzed control strategies over essential host factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection. We constructed comprehensive directed protein-protein interaction networks integrating the top ranked host factors, drug target proteins, and directed protein-protein interaction data. We analyzed the networks to identify drug targets and combinations thereof that offer efficient control over the host factors. We validated our findings against clinical studies data and bioinformatics studies. Our method offers a new insight into the molecular details of the disease and into potentially new therapy targets for it. Our approach for drug repurposing is significant beyond COVID-19 and may be applied also to other diseases.