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. 2023 Jan 6;18(1):e0279998.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279998. eCollection 2023.

A proteomic perspective and involvement of cytokines in SARS-CoV-2 infection

Sarena Banu  1 , Ramakrishnan Nagaraj  1 , Mohammed M Idris  1
Affiliations

A proteomic perspective and involvement of cytokines in SARS-CoV-2 infection

Sarena Banu et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus results in manifestation of several clinical observations from asymptomatic to multi-organ failure. Biochemically, the serious effects are due to what is described as cytokine storm. The initial infection region for COVID-19 is the nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal region which is the site where samples are taken to examine the presence of virus. We have now carried out detailed proteomic analysis of the nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab samples collected from normal individuals and those tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, in India, during the early days of the pandemic in 2020, by RTPCR, involving high throughput quantitative proteomics analysis. Several proteins like annexins, cytokines and histones were found differentially regulated in the host human cells following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Genes for these proteins were also observed to be differentially regulated when their expression was analyzed. Majority of the cytokine proteins were found to be up regulated in the infected individuals. Cell to Cell signaling interaction, Immune cell trafficking and inflammatory response pathways were found associated with the differentially regulated proteins based on network pathway analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Proteins associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
List of proteins associated with SARS-CoV-2 infected NOPS samples against control negative samples. The X-axis represents the protein expression level and Y- axis represents the proteins.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Expression analysis of genes.
qRTPCR expression analysis of genes associated with infection. The bar represents the relative expression of the gene in SARS-CoV-2 infected samples against negative controls. The X-axis represents the genes and Y- axis represents the differential fold expression.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Network pathway analysis.
Network pathway analysis of the genes/proteins associated with infection in NOPS samples. a. Interaction network based on IPA analysis. b and c. Two most significant network associated with infection.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Functions of proteins or genes associated with infection.
List of functions (or disease) associated with the differentially expression proteins/genes which are associated with infection.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Cytokine protein array analysis.
Cytokine protein array analysis for SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative samples. Bottom panel represent the relative expression of the protein based on cytokine protein array analysis.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Analysis of Annexins.
Western blot analysis for ANXA1, ANXA2 and ANXA5 proteins in infected and non-infected NOPS samples. P1 and P2 indicates the SARS-CoV-2 positive samples; M denotes the protein molecular weight standard and N1 and N2 denotes the SARS-CoV-2 negative samples.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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