Comparative transcriptomic analysis between different respiratory viral infections could help identifying the fundamental targets to improve the administration of these diseases. Especially in the case of COVID-19, unprecedented epidemy has challenged the health system with limited treatment options. Recently, based on studies on thousands of patients, WHO has recommended the use of IL-6 inhibitors in COVID-19. Here, we subjected the patient transcriptome of SARS COV2, RSV, and IAV to a comparative analysis. Two gene expression profiles were obtained from the NCBI GEO database. The differential analysis was performed by the R’s LIMMA package and Galaxy limma voom tool. To compare gene expression, Ggplot2 and pheatmap packages of R were applied to generate volcano plots and heatmap. Afterward, the KEGG pathway and GO enrichment were analyzed by DAVID online database. We used the STRING database for PPI network construction and hub gene identification. Using the DGIdb, potential drugs were predicted. We found a group of 11 genes, including IL6, IRF7, MX1, IFIH1, OAS1-3, XAF1, IRF9, IFIT1, and IFIT3 with potentially the highest score in terms of gene expression level in all three viruses. IL-6 is particularly of higher importance with three FDA approved drugs, Siltuximab, Olokizumab, and Clazakizumab. Five other genes including, , IRF7, IFIH1, OAS1, IFIT3, and OAS3, also had potential therapeutic targets for SARS-CoV-2 and IAV H3N2 and RSV.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, IAV, RSV, IL6

Abbreviations: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Influenza A virus (IAV), Protein‐protein interaction (PPI)