Vice Chancellor for Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Virology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Int Immunopharmacol. 2021 Aug;97:107641. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2021.107641. Epub 2021 Apr 6.
When a new pathogen, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, appears all novel information can aid in the process of monitoring and in the diagnosis of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The aim of the current study is to elucidate the specific miRNA profile which can act as new biomarkers for distinguishing acute COVID-19 disease from the healthy group and those in the post-acute phase of the COVID-19 disease.
The expression level of selected miRNAs including let-7b-3p, miR-29a-3p, miR-146a-3p and miR-155-5p were evaluated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of COVID-19 patients, in both the acute and post-acute COVID-19 phase of the disease and healthy groups, by real-time PCR assays. Specificity and sensitivity of miRNAs was tested by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis in COVID-19 patients.
The expression level of all miRNAs in COVID-19 patients was significantly higher than in the healthy group. Therefore, the expression pattern of miR-29a-3p, miR-146a-3p and let-7b-3p in the post-acute COVID-19 phase was significantly different from the acute COVID-19 phase. ROC analyses demonstrated that miR-29a-3p, -155-5p and -146a-3p may serve as the novel biomarker for COVID-19 diagnosis with high specificity and sensitivity. In addition, miR-29a-3p, and -146a-3p can maybe act as novel biomarkers for distinguishing acute from post-acute phase of COVID-19 disease.
The difference in miRNA expression pattern between COVID-19 patients and those in the healthy group, and between acute COVID-19 with post-acute COVID-19, suggested that cellular miRNAs could be used as promising biomarkers for diagnosis and monitoring of COVID-19.
当一种新的病原体（如严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2）出现时，所有新的信息都可以帮助监测和诊断冠状病毒病（COVID-19）。本研究的目的是阐明可以作为新生物标志物的特定 miRNA 谱，以区分急性 COVID-19 疾病与健康组和 COVID-19 疾病的急性后阶段。
通过实时 PCR 分析评估了 COVID-19 患者外周血单个核细胞（PBMCs）中选定 miRNA（包括 let-7b-3p、miR-29a-3p、miR-146a-3p 和 miR-155-5p）的表达水平，包括急性 COVID-19 阶段和疾病和健康组的急性后 COVID-19 阶段。通过受试者工作特征（ROC）分析测试了 miRNA 的特异性和敏感性。
COVID-19 患者所有 miRNA 的表达水平均明显高于健康组。因此，miR-29a-3p、miR-146a-3p 和 let-7b-3p 在 COVID-19 后急性阶段的表达模式与急性 COVID-19 阶段明显不同。ROC 分析表明，miR-29a-3p、-155-5p 和 -146a-3p 可能作为 COVID-19 诊断的新型高特异性和高灵敏度生物标志物。此外，miR-29a-3p 和 -146a-3p 可能作为区分 COVID-19 急性和急性后阶段的新型生物标志物。
COVID-19 患者与健康组之间以及急性 COVID-19 与急性后 COVID-19 之间 miRNA 表达模式的差异表明细胞 miRNA 可作为 COVID-19 诊断和监测的有前途的生物标志物。
