Morenikeji Olanrewaju B, Bernard Kahleel, Strutton Ellis, Wallace Madeleine, Thomas Bolaji N
Department of Biology, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, United States.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, United States.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2021 Jan 15;8:582953. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.582953. eCollection 2020.
Coronavirus is a family of viruses including alpha-, beta-, gamma-, delta-coronaviruses. Only alpha- and betacoronaviruses have been observed to infect humans. Past outbreaks of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, both betacoronavirus, are the result of a spillover from animals. Recently, a new strain termed SARS-CoV-2 emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Severe cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). One contributor to the development of ARDS is cytokine storm, an overwhelming inflammatory immune response. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are genetic regulatory elements that, among many functions, alter gene expression and cellular processes. lncRNAs identified to be pertinent in COVID-19 cytokine storm have the potential to serve as disease markers or drug targets. This project aims to computationally identify conserved lncRNAs potentially regulating gene expression in cytokine storm during COVID-19. We found 22 lncRNAs that can target 10 cytokines overexpressed in COVID-19 cytokine storm, 8 of which targeted two or more cytokine storm cytokines. In particular, the lncRNA non-coding RNA activated by DNA damage (NORAD), targeted five out of the ten identified cytokine storm cytokines, and is evolutionarily conserved across multiple species. These lncRNAs are ideal candidates for further and analysis.
冠状病毒是一个病毒家族，包括α、β、γ、δ冠状病毒。仅观察到α和β冠状病毒可感染人类。过去爆发的严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒（SARS-CoV）和中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒（MERS-CoV）均为β冠状病毒，是动物病毒外溢的结果。最近，一种名为严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）的新型毒株于2019年12月在中国武汉出现。由SARS-CoV-2引起的2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的重症病例会导致急性呼吸窘迫综合征（ARDS）。ARDS发展的一个因素是细胞因子风暴，即一种压倒性的炎症免疫反应。长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）是遗传调控元件，在众多功能中，可改变基因表达和细胞过程。已确定与COVID-19细胞因子风暴相关的lncRNA有潜力作为疾病标志物或药物靶点。本项目旨在通过计算识别可能在COVID-19细胞因子风暴期间调控基因表达的保守lncRNA。我们发现22种lncRNA可靶向COVID-19细胞因子风暴中过表达的10种细胞因子，其中8种靶向两种或更多细胞因子风暴细胞因子。特别是，DNA损伤激活的非编码RNA（NORAD）这种lncRNA，靶向了已确定的10种细胞因子风暴细胞因子中的5种，并且在多个物种中具有进化保守性。这些lncRNA是进一步研究和分析的理想候选对象。
