STAT3 and prion disease: When we submitted the differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) for functional enrichment analysis in the David dataset, we observed upregulation of hub proteins associated with COVID-19 pathway and/or prion disease (RPL30, RPL12, C1QA, C1QB, STAT3, MAPK14, CASP1, SOD1, CASP3) in cases of acute liver damage [37, 38].