@article{GuptaSrivastavaMinochaetal.2021,
  author    = {Gupta, Shishir K. and Srivastava, Mugdha and Minocha, Rashmi and Akash, Aman and Dangwal, Seema and Dandekar, Thomas},
  title     = {Alveolar regeneration in COVID-19 patients: a network perspective},
  series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences},
  volume    = {22},
  journal   = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences},
  number    = {20},
  issn      = {1422-0067},
  doi       = {10.3390/ijms222011279},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284307},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {A viral infection involves entry and replication of viral nucleic acid in a host organism, subsequently leading to biochemical and structural alterations in the host cell. In the case of SARS-CoV-2 viral infection, over-activation of the host immune system may lead to lung damage. Albeit the regeneration and fibrotic repair processes being the two protective host responses, prolonged injury may lead to excessive fibrosis, a pathological state that can result in lung collapse. In this review, we discuss regeneration and fibrosis processes in response to SARS-CoV-2 and provide our viewpoint on the triggering of alveolar regeneration in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{LiangBencurovaPsotaetal.2021,
  author    = {Liang, Chunguang and Bencurova, Elena and Psota, Eric and Neurgaonkar, Priya and Prelog, Martina and Scheller, Carsten and Dandekar, Thomas},
  title     = {Population-predicted MHC class II epitope presentation of SARS-CoV-2 structural proteins correlates to the case fatality rates of COVID-19 in different countries},
  series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences},
  volume    = {22},
  journal   = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences},
  number    = {5},
  issn      = {1422-0067},
  doi       = {10.3390/ijms22052630},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-258936},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {We observed substantial differences in predicted Major Histocompatibility Complex II (MHCII) epitope presentation of SARS-CoV-2 proteins for different populations but only minor differences in predicted MHCI epitope presentation. A comparison of this predicted epitope MHC-coverage revealed for the early phase of infection spread (till day 15 after reaching 128 observed infection cases) highly significant negative correlations with the case fatality rate. Specifically, this was observed in different populations for MHC class II presentation of the viral spike protein (p-value: 0.0733 for linear regression), the envelope protein (p-value: 0.023), and the membrane protein (p-value: 0.00053), indicating that the high case fatality rates of COVID-19 observed in some countries seem to be related with poor MHC class II presentation and hence weak adaptive immune response against these viral envelope proteins. Our results highlight the general importance of the SARS-CoV-2 structural proteins in immunological control in early infection spread looking at a global census in various countries and taking case fatality rate into account. Other factors such as health system and control measures become more important after the early spread. Our study should encourage further studies on MHCII alleles as potential risk factors in COVID-19 including assessment of local populations and specific allele distributions.},
  language  = {en}
}