Duygu Kirkik*, Fatih Hacimustafaoglu and Ersin Ibisoglu
Background/aim: Some viral infections cause myocarditis. Since myocarditis and Coronavirus show similar symptoms (such as chest pain), it is important to distinguish between these two diseases, both in determining the treatment to be applied and in preventing the disease. This study aims to demonstrate the potential clinical significance of CXADR and ACE2 in COVID-19 using an in silico approach.
Materials and methods: In this study, STRING and GENEMANIA databases were used to understand similarities between CXADR gene and ACE2. KEGG pathway was used to analysis of viral myocarditis. Exome variant server and polyphen2 database were used to find probably damaging SNPs on the CXADR gene and it was shown where the CXADR gene was expressed by UCSC Genome Browser, Ensembl Genome Browser, and IGV Browser.
Results: It was shown that CXADR expression is associated with PPM1A, SLC10A2, TMEM27, LACTB2, RXRA, SLC12A6, and HOOK1, and CXADR is highly expressed in skin, bladder, brain, stomach, prostate, and testis. In addition, eleven potentially deleterious SNPs have been identified in the CXADR gene.
Conclusion: This study shows that there is a relationship between CXADR and ACE2 and that ACE2 may have a role in myocardial damage.