Bozgeyik Ibrahim
Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Adiyaman University, Adiyaman, Turkey.
Meta Gene. 2021 Feb;27:100831. doi: 10.1016/j.mgene.2020.100831. Epub 2020 Nov 18.
In late December 2019, several cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (COVID-19) were reported in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. Based on clinical findings, blood tests and chest radiographs, this disease was diagnosed as a virus-associated pneumonia. Sequence analysis revealed a novel coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2 (formerly called 2019-nCoV), as the causative agent of pneumonia of unknown etiology. So far, the SARS-CoV-2 infection continues to spread, and this virus poses a serious public health threat. In this study, it was aimed to reveal potential miRNA targets for the regulation of SARS-CoV-2 host cell receptor ACE2. For the identification of potential miRNA targets for the ACE2 gene, TarBase v.8 (DIANA Tools), TargetScan, miRTarBase and miRDB miRNA-target prediction algorithms were used. FANTOM5 CAGE was used for the cellular ontology analysis. Expression levels of these miRNAs were determined using OncomiR Pan-Cancer miRNome Atlas. The results suggest that members of miR-200 family of miRNAs, especially miR-200c-3p, are strong candidate targets for the regulation of ACE2 in respiratory system cells. Consequently, the present study for the first time emphasizes potential use of miRNA-based therapeutics in the battle against SARS-CoV-2 infection and its deadly disease, COVID-19.
2019年12月下旬，中国湖北省武汉市报告了几例病因不明的肺炎病例（COVID-19）。根据临床表现、血液检查和胸部X光片，这种疾病被诊断为病毒相关性肺炎。序列分析显示一种新型冠状病毒，即严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2，以前称为2019-nCoV），是病因不明的肺炎的病原体。到目前为止，SARS-CoV-2感染仍在继续传播，这种病毒对公众健康构成严重威胁。在本研究中，旨在揭示调控SARS-CoV-2宿主细胞受体血管紧张素转换酶2（ACE2）的潜在微小RNA（miRNA）靶点。为了鉴定ACE2基因的潜在miRNA靶点，使用了TarBase v.8（DIANA Tools）、TargetScan、miRTarBase和miRDB miRNA靶点预测算法。FANTOM5 CAGE用于细胞本体分析。使用OncomiR泛癌miRNome图谱确定这些miRNA的表达水平。结果表明，miR-200家族的miRNA成员，尤其是miR-200c-3p，是呼吸系统细胞中ACE2调控的有力候选靶点。因此，本研究首次强调了基于miRNA的疗法在对抗SARS-CoV-2感染及其致命疾病COVID-19中的潜在用途。
