  Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the
SARS-CoV-2 virus. It was first identified in Wuhan, China, and has since spread
causing a global pandemic. Various studies have been performed to understand
the molecular mechanisms of viral infection for predicting drug repurposing
candidates. However, such information is spread across many publications and it
is very time-consuming to access, integrate, explore, and exploit. We developed
CoVex, the first interactive online platform for SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 host
interactome exploration and drug (target) identification. CoVex integrates 1)
experimentally validated virus-human protein interactions, 2) human
protein-protein interactions and 3) drug-target interactions. The web interface
allows user-friendly visual exploration of the virus-host interactome and
implements systems medicine algorithms for network-based prediction of drugs.
Thus, CoVex is an important resource, not only to understand the molecular
mechanisms involved in SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 pathogenicity, but also in
clinical research for the identification and prioritization of candidate
therapeutics. We apply CoVex to investigate recent hypotheses on a systems
biology level and to systematically explore the molecular mechanisms driving
the virus life cycle. Furthermore, we extract and discuss drug repurposing
candidates involved in these mechanisms. CoVex renders COVID-19 drug research
systems-medicine-ready by giving the scientific community direct access to
network medicine algorithms integrating virus-host-drug interactions. It is
available at https://exbio.wzw.tum.de/covex/.
