Campus Units
Genetics, Development and Cell Biology, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Center for Metabolic Biology
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Submitted Manuscript
Publication Date
10-8-2020
Journal or Book Title
Research Square
DOI
10.21203/rs.3.rs-88890/v1
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected African American populations disproportionately with respect to prevalence, morbidity, and mortality. Because gene expression profiles represent combined genetic, socioenvironmental, and physiological effects, and could provide therapeutic biomarkers and environmental mitigation strategies, we undertook a large-scale assessment of differential gene expression between African Americans and European Americans. To do this, we mined RNA-Seq datasets from normal and diseased (tumor) conditions whose metadata could be used to evaluate differential patterns. We observed widespread differential expression of genes implicated in COVID-19 and integral to epithelial boundary function, inflammation, infection, and reactive oxygen stress. Notably, expression of the little-studied F8A2 gene is up to 40-fold greater in African Americans. F8A2, like F8A1, encodes HAP40 protein, which mediates early endosome movement. African American gene expression signatures reveal increased number or activity of esophageal glandular cells and lung ACE2-positive basal keratinocytes. These findings have potential to establish prognostic signatures, refine approaches to minimizing risk of severe infection, and improve precision treatment of COVID-19.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Copyright Owner
The Authors
Copyright Date
2020
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Singh, Urminder; Hernandez, Kyle M.; Aronow, Bruce J.; and Wurtele, Eve Syrkin, "African Americans and European Americans exhibit distinct gene expression patterns across tissues and tumors that are associated with immunologic and infectious functions and environmental exposures" (2020). Genetics, Development and Cell Biology Publications. 262.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/gdcb_las_pubs/262
Included in
Cell and Developmental Biology Commons, Genetics and Genomics Commons, Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons
Comments
This preprint is made available through Research Square, doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-88890/v1.