Similarity of SARS-coV-2 expression profile with that of SLE, lymphoma and multiple myeloma
Comparative enrichment analysis of gene expression profiles for disease-specific phenotypes revealed the similarity of SARS-infected tissues with pneumonia, influenza, lymphoma, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), multiple myeloma, asthma, auto-immune diseases, asthma, pneumonia, and atherosclerosis while SARS-coV-2 PBMC showed exclusive overlap with lymphoma, multiple myeloma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (Figure 6A). The gene expression profile of SARS-coV-2 infected lungs was very similar to that of PBMC from SLE patients (Figure 6C). There was a significant overlap between SARS-coV-2 and SLE in up-regulated genes involved in immune regulation (Figure 3B), interferon signaling (Figure 5B) and disease-specific phenotypes (Figure 6B, 6D, 6E). Many genes deregulated in lymphoma and multiple myeloma were up-regulated in SARS-coV-2 infections as well (Figure 6B, 6E). Several aberrantly expressed genes involved in these disease phenotypes were down-regulated in thalidomide and lenalidomide treated A549 and endothelium (Figure 6).