HCoV–host interactome network
To depict the HCoV–host interactome network, we assembled the CoV-associated host proteins from four known HCoVs (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HCoV-229E, and HCoV-NL63), one mouse MHV, and one avian IBV (N protein) (Supplementary Table S3). In total, we obtained 119 host proteins associated with CoVs with various experimental evidence. Specifically, these host proteins are either the direct targets of HCoV proteins or are involved in crucial pathways of HCoV infection. The HCoV–host interactome network is shown in Fig. 3a. We identified several hub proteins including JUN, XPO1, NPM1, and HNRNPA1, with the highest number of connections within the 119 proteins. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed multiple significant biological pathways (adjusted P value < 0.05), including measles, RNA transport, NF-kappa B signaling, Epstein-Barr virus infection, and influenza (Fig. 3b). Gene ontology (GO) biological process enrichment analysis further confirmed multiple viral infection-related processes (adjusted P value < 0.001), including viral life cycle, modulation by virus of host morphology or physiology, viral process, positive regulation of viral life cycle, transport of virus, and virion attachment to host cell (Fig. 3c). We then mapped the known drug–target network (see Materials and methods) into the HCoV–host interactome to search for druggable, cellular targets. We found that 47 human proteins (39%, blue nodes in Fig. 3a) can be targeted by at least one approved drug or experimental drug under clinical trials. For example, GSK3B, DPP4, SMAD3, PARP1, and IKBKB are the most targetable proteins. The high druggability of HCoV–host interactome motivates us to develop a drug repurposing strategy by specifically targeting cellular proteins associated with HCoVs for potential treatment of 2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2.
Fig. 3 Drug-target network analysis of the HCoV–host interactome.
a A subnetwork highlighting the HCoV–host interactome. Nodes represent three types of HCoV-associated host proteins: targetgable (proteins can be targeted by approved drugs or drugs under clinical trials), non-targetable (proteins do not have any known ligands), neighbors (protein–protein interaction partners). Edge colors indicate five types of experimental evidence of the protein–protein interactions (see Materials and methods). 3D three-dimensional structure. b, c KEGG human pathway (b) and gene ontology enrichment analyses (c) for the HCoV-associated proteins.