Application of omics technology to combat the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

As of August 27, 2021, the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread to over 220 countries, areas, and territories. Thus far, 214,468,601 confirmed cases, including 4,470,969 deaths, have been reported to the World Health Organization. To combat the COVID-19 pandemic, multiomics-based strategies, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, have been used to study the diagnosis methods, pathogenesis, prognosis, and potential drug targets of COVID-19. In order to help researchers and clinicians to keep up with the knowledge of COVID-19, we summarized the most recent progresses reported in omics-based research papers. This review discusses omics-based approaches for studying COVID-19, summarizing newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 variants as well as potential diagnostic methods, risk factors, and pathological features of COVID-19. This review can help researchers and clinicians gain insight into COVID-19 features, providing direction for future drug development and guidance for clinical treatment, so that patients can receive appropriate treatment as soon as possible to reduce the risk of disease progression.