In silico analysis of ion channels and lipid metabolism in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients

Concerns of long COVID among patients once infected with SARS-CoV-2 are increasing. Molecular alterations in the host could help in understanding this disease progression. This study aims to identify -altered human ion channels (HICs) and lipid metabolism-related genes in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. To achieve this, publicly available transcriptomic data analysis of 277 COVID-19 patients and 76 controls was performed. Differential expression analysis identified 287 HICs and 754 lipid metabolism-related genes. Further, functional enrichment led to the identification of altered pathways such as cholesterol metabolism, long-term depression, taste transduction, and calcium signaling. These findings align with the current clinical conditions, like dyslipidemia, neurological disorders in COVID-19, and long COVID patients. A comprehensive pathway map depicting the involvement of altered host proteins was generated. The protein-protein interaction networks and subnetworks between host proteins and, further, with viral proteins were determined. 17 potential drugs that interact with GJA1, ITPR2, ITPR3, and KCNB2, were identified. Most likely, these HICs are potential candidates for drug repurposing in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and require further experimental validation.