Identification of key genes, pathways, and associated comorbidities in chikungunya infection: insights from system biology analysis

The chikungunya (CHIKV) viral infection is a global health burden characterized by the neurologic complications with CHIKV infection. CHIKV has relation with Ebola, Dengu, Semlikhi Forest Virus (SLFV) characterized by inflammations in these viral diseases. The present study aimed to discover molecular signatures for comorbidity of viral infections. So, in our study, we have analyzed transcriptome datasets related to viral diseases namely, CHIKV, Ebola, Dengu, SLFV, and inflammatory disorder “Pain” associated with these viral diseases. We built relationship networks based on the CHIKV virus after identifying shared genes among the illnesses mentioned above. After that we also constructed protein-protein interaction network (PPI) considering the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of CHKIV and identified hub genes based on topological analysis. A total 500 DEGs was identified associated with CHIKV infections induced transcriptomic alterations. It was also found that 105 genes were common in both CHIKV and ebola infections. However, CHIKV shared under 24 significant transcripts with other alphaviruse infections. We also found that 49 genes shared with pain. In our analysis, we identified the relation of these viruses, common genes among them, comorbidities of CHIKV and Hub genes, significant pathways of CHIKV.