The Effect of Host miRNAs on Prognosis in COVID-19: miRNA-155 May Promote Severity via Targeting Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 1 (SOCS1) Gene

Alternations in miR-155 and miR-200 serum levels can serve as biomarkers for COVID-19 in the post-mass vaccination era

BACKGROUND

Mass vaccination and natural immunity reduced the severity of COVID-19 cases. SARS-CoV-2 ongoing genome variations imply the use of confirmatory serologic biomarkers besides PCR for reliable diagnosis. MicroRNA molecules are intrinsic components of the innate immune system. The expression of miR155-5p and miR200c-3p was previously correlated with SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. This case-control study was conducted during the third peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt and aimed to calculate the accuracy of miR155-5p and miR200c-3p as biomarkers for COVID-19.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Thirty out of 400 COVID-19 patients at a main University hospital in Alexandria were included in the study along with 20 age-matched healthy controls. Plasma samples were collected for total and differential CBC. Relative quantitation of miR155-5p and miR200c-3p expression from WBCs was done by RT-qPCR. The expression of miR155-5p and miR200c-3p was positively correlated and was significantly downregulated in COVID-19 patients compared to the healthy control group (p ˂ 0.005). Both miR155-5p and miR200c-3p were of 76% and 74% accuracy as diagnostic biomarkers of COVID-19, respectively. Regarding the differentiation between mild and moderate cases, their accuracy was 80% and 70%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

miR155-5p and miR200c-3p expression can be used to confirm the diagnosis of COVID-19 and discriminate between mild and moderate cases, with a moderate degree of accuracy.

Blood Features Associated with Viral Infection Severity: An Experience from COVID-19-Pandemic Patients Hospitalized in the Center of Iran, Yazd

Pandemics such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can manifest as systemic infections that affect multiple organs and show laboratory manifestations. We aimed to analyze laboratory findings to understand possible mechanisms of organ dysfunction and risk stratification of hospitalized patients in these epidemics. Methods. This retrospective study was conducted among patients admitted to COVID-19 referral treatment center, Shahid Sadoughi Hospital, Yazd, Iran, from April 21 to November 21, 2021. It was the fifth peak of COVID-19 in Iran, and Delta (VOC-21APR-02; B.1-617.2) was the dominant and most concerning strain. All cases were positive for COVID-19 by RT-PCR test. Lab information of included patients and association of sex, age, and outcome were analyzed, on admission. Results. A total of 466 COVID-19 patients were included in the study, the majority of whom were women (68.9%). The average age of hospitalized patients in male and female patients was 57.68 and 41.32 years, respectively (p < 0.01). During hospitalization, abnormality in hematological and biochemical parameters was significant and was associated with the outcome of death in patients. There was incidence of lymphopenia, neutrophilia, anemia, and thrombocytopenia. The changes in neutrophil/lymphocyte (N/L) and hematocrit/albumin (Het/Alb) ratio and potassium and calcium levels were significant. Conclusion. Based on these results, new biochemical and hematological parameters can be used to predict the spread of infection and the underlying molecular mechanism. Viral infection may spread through blood cells and the immune system.

Differentially-regulated miRNAs in COVID-19: A systematic review

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) that infected more than 760 million people worldwide with over 6.8 million deaths to date. COVID-19 is one of the most challenging diseases of our times due to the nature of its spread, its effect on multiple organs, and an inability to predict disease prognosis, ranging from being completely asymptomatic to death. Upon infection, SARS-CoV-2 alters the host immune response by changing host-transcriptional machinery. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are regarded as post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression that can be perturbed by invading viruses. Several in vitro and in vivo studies have reported such dysregulation of host miRNA expression upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. Some of this could occur as an anti-viral response of the host to the viral infection. Viruses themselves can counteract that response by mounting their own pro-viral response that facilitates virus infection, an aspect which may cause pathogenesis. Thus, miRNAs could serve as possible disease biomarkers in infected people. In the current review, we have summarised and analysed the existing data about miRNA dysregulation in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 to determine their concordance between studies, and identified those that could serve as potential biomarkers during infection, disease progression, and death, even in people with other co-morbidities. Having such biomarkers can be vital in not only predicting COVID-19 prognosis, but also the development of novel miRNA-based anti-virals and therapeutics which can become invaluable in case of the emergence of new viral variants with pandemic potential in the future.

Saliva microRNA Profile in Children with and without Severe SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may impair immune modulating host microRNAs, causing severe disease. Our objectives were to determine the salivary miRNA profile in children with SARS-CoV-2 infection at presentation and compare the expression in those with and without severe outcomes. Children <18 years with SARS-CoV-2 infection evaluated at two hospitals between March 2021 and February 2022 were prospectively enrolled. Severe outcomes included respiratory failure, shock or death. Saliva microRNAs were quantified with RNA sequencing. Data on 197 infected children (severe = 45) were analyzed. Of the known human miRNAs, 1606 (60%) were measured and compared across saliva samples. There were 43 miRNAs with ≥2-fold difference between severe and non-severe cases (adjusted p-value < 0.05). The majority (31/43) were downregulated in severe cases. The largest between-group differences involved miR-4495, miR-296-5p, miR-548ao-3p and miR-1273c. These microRNAs displayed enrichment for 32 gene ontology pathways including viral processing and transforming growth factor beta and Fc-gamma receptor signaling. In conclusion, salivary miRNA levels are perturbed in children with severe COVID-19, with the majority of miRNAs being down regulated. Further studies are required to validate and determine the utility of salivary miRNAs as biomarkers of severe COVID-19.

COVID-19: Mechanisms, risk factors, genetics, non-coding RNAs and neurologic impairments

The novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) causes a severe acute illness with the development of respiratory distress syndrome in some cases. COVID-19 is a global problem of mankind to this day. Among its most important aspects that require in-depth study are pathogenesis and molecular changes in severe forms of the disease. A lot of literature data is devoted to the pathogenetic mechanisms of COVID-19. Without dwelling in detail on some paths of pathogenesis discussed, we note that at present there are many factors of development and progression. Among them, this is the direct role of both viral non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and host ncRNAs. One such class of ncRNAs that has been extensively studied in COVID-19 is microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Moreover, Initially, it was believed that this COVID-19 was limited to damage to the respiratory system. It has now become clear that COVID-19 affects not only the liver and kidneys, but also the nervous system. In this review, we summarized the current knowledge of mechanisms, risk factors, genetics and neurologic impairments in COVID-19. In addition, we discuss and evaluate evidence demonstrating the involvement of miRNAs and lnRNAs in COVID-19 and use this information to propose hypotheses for future research directions.