Fibrinogen Dysregulation is a Prominent Process in Fatal Conditions of COVID-19 Infection; a Proteomic Analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Molecular pathophysiology of COVID-19 is not completely known. Expression changes in patients' plasma proteins have revealed new information about the disease. Introducing the key targeted plasma protein in fatal conditions of COVID-19 infection is the aim of this study. Methods: Significant differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in the plasma of cases with a fatal condition of COVID-19 were extracted from an original article. These proteins were included in a network via STRING database along with 100 first neighbor proteins to determine central nodes of the network for analyzing. Results: Queried and added proteins were included in a scale free network. Three hub nodes were identified as critical target proteins. The top queried hub proteins were chains of fibrinogen; Fibrinogen Alpha chain (FGA), Fibrinogen gamma chain (FGG), and Fibrinogen beta chain (FGB), which are related to the coagulation process. Conclusions: It seems that fibrinogen dysregulation has a deep impact on the fatality of COVID-19 infection.

Keywords

• SARS-CoV-2
• Proteomics
• Proteins
• Protein Interaction Maps
• Fibrinogen