Epigenetic mechanisms influencing COVID-19 (1)

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most significant public health threats in recent history and has impacted the lives of almost everyone worldwide. Epigenetic mechanisms contribute to many aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle, including expression levels of viral receptor ACE2, expression of cytokine genes as part of the host immune response, and the implication of various histone modifications in several aspects of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 proteins physically associate with many different host proteins over the course of infection, and notably there are several interactions between viral proteins and epigenetic enzymes such as HDACs and bromodomain-containing proteins as shown by correlation-based studies. The many contributions of epigenetic mechanisms to the viral life cycle and the host immune response to infection have resulted in epigenetic factors being identified as emerging biomarkers for COVID-19, and project epigenetic modifiers as promising therapeutic targets to combat COVID-19. This review article highlights the major epigenetic pathways at play during COVID-19 disease and discusses ongoing clinical trials that will hopefully contribute to slowing the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Key words: epigenetics, COVID-19, ACE2, DNA methylation, histone modifications, clinical trials. La pandemie de la COVID-19 constitue l'une des plus importantes menaces a la sante publique de l'histoire recente et a touche les vies de presque tous a l'echelle planetaire. Des mecanismes epigenetiques contribuent a plusieurs aspects du cycle de replication du SRAS-CoV-2, incluant le niveau d'expression du recepteur viral ACE2, l'expression des genes codant pour les cytokines qui participent a la reponse immuni-tairedel'hote, et l'implication de plusieurs modifications des histones touchant de nombreux aspects de la COVID-19. Les proteines du SRAS-CoV-2 se lient physiquement avec plusieurs proteines de l'hote au cours de l'infection et, notamment, des etudes de correlation ont revele de nombreuses interactions entre des proteines virales et des enzymes epigenetiques telles que les HDAC et des proteines a bromodomaine. Les nombreuses contributions des mecanismes epigenetiques dans le cycle vital du virus et dans la reponse immunitaire de l'hote ont fait en sorte que les facteurs epigenetiques sont vus comme etant des biomarqueurs emergents pour la COVID-19 et laissent entrevoir que des modificateurs epigenetiques pourraient constituer des cibles therapeutiques interes-santes pour combattre la COVID-19. Cet article de synthese met en lumiere les principaux sentiers epigenetiques qui jouent un role dans la maladie de la COVID-19 et les auteurs discutent des essais cliniques en cours qui con-tribueront possiblement a ralentir la propagation du SRAS-CoV-2. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: epigenetique, COVID-19, ACE2, methylation de l'ADN, modifications des histones, essais cliniques.
Introduction Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation and post-translational modifications of histone tails, contribute to the regulation of almost all biological processes, and are also involved in many different human [...]