Metabolic modelling reveals key pathways in COVID-19 in an effort to drive drug purposing
Alexandre Oliveira, Miguel Rocha, Óscar Dias · IFAC-PapersOnLine · 2024
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a pressing need for innovative drugs tackling this disease. In this context, this study aimed to develop context-specific metabolic models using transcriptomics data to uncover significant flux changes and drive drug repurposing. Differential flux analyses revealed significant flux alterations, particularly in fatty acid metabolism, with notable changes observed in cholesterol, retinol, arachidonic acid, and carnitine pathways. Drug targeting results primarily focused on impairing cholesterol biosynthesis. Overall, this work elucidated relevant interactions, highlighting the relevance of specific metabolic pathways in the infection process, which could be leveraged for potential novel treatments.