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COVID-19 Is a Multi-Organ Aggressor: Epigenetic and Clinical Marks.
Kgatle, MM, Lawal, IO, Mashabela, G, Boshomane, TMG, Koatale, PC, Mahasha, PW, Ndlovu, H, Vorster, M, Rodrigues, HG, Zeevaart, JR, et al
Frontiers in immunology. 2021;:752380
Abstract
The progression of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), resulting from a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, may be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Several viruses hijack the host genome machinery for their own advantage and survival, and similar phenomena might occur upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. Severe cases of COVID-19 may be driven by metabolic and epigenetic driven mechanisms, including DNA methylation and histone/chromatin alterations. These epigenetic phenomena may respond to enhanced viral replication and mediate persistent long-term infection and clinical phenotypes associated with severe COVID-19 cases and fatalities. Understanding the epigenetic events involved, and their clinical significance, may provide novel insights valuable for the therapeutic control and management of the COVID-19 pandemic. This review highlights different epigenetic marks potentially associated with COVID-19 development, clinical manifestation, and progression.
