Leveraging Precision Medicine to address COVID-19 - Keva Garg

Abstract: Precision medicine (PM) is a new paradigm in disease diagnosis, prevention, and treatment that holds great relevance in the current coronavirus pandemic. PM can be used to select specific preventive measures and biomarkers that will be beneficial in the management of disease or other respiratory viruses. Knowledge on the pathophysiology of COVID-19 has improved substantially, regarding progression of the virus, the role of gene variants (ACE2 receptors, TMPRSS2, FURIN), the types of multiorgan impacts, and the function of cytokine response. Individuals infected with COVID-19 are seen to have numerous atypical presentations of the disease, meaning that similar treatments for a large group of people would likely serve as ineffective. As much as current COVID-19 treatments are being developed, present antiviral therapies including Remdecivir, lopinavir, ritonavir and hydroxychloroquine have all been seen to ineffectively lessen mortality or length of hospital stay. Therefore, a new approach in precision medicine is needed and currently realistic, with advancements in molecular sequencing, developments in imaging and easier access to detailed information in electronic health records. Single-cell RNA sequencing is an important technology for researchers to examine the effects of vaccinations, along with genome or transcriptome content at the level of individual cells. A precision medicine approach is preventive, predictive, personalized and participatory. The three main steps in PM includes looking at its pathophysiology, the prediction or diagnosis of the virus, and finally management for prevention or treatment. The aims of this review is to discuss the precision medicine approach in regards to SARS-CoV2, and the gene-centric vision for individualized gene-targeted fixes. Keywords: Precision medicine, Single-cell RNA sequencing

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