The six pairwise interactions (ADAM10-ADAM17, AKT1-CTNNB1, AKT1-ESR1, AKT1-PIK3CA, CTNNB1-ESR1, FGFR1-PIK3CA) of ‘candidate genes’ showed WHMS values (Table 2) greater than the cut-off value (0.57) for WHMS (Fig. 5b) and were considered as prevalent pairs-wise interactions of the ‘candidate genes’ that were associated with functional aspects in COVID-19 (dark solid edges in Fig. 5f). This evidence concerns the gene PIK3CA and COVID-19.