Firoozi Zahra, Mohammadisoleimani Elham, Shahi Abbas, Naghizadeh Mohammad Mehdi, Mirzaei Ebrahim, Asad Ali Ghanbari, Salmanpour Zahra, Javad Nouri Seyed Mohamad, Mansoori Yaser
Department of Medical Genetics, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran.
Department of Medical Genetics, Afzalipour School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol. 2022 Aug 30;2022:2762582. doi: 10.1155/2022/2762582. eCollection 2022.
COVID-19, the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has led to a global pandemic and mortality of people around the world. Some circular RNAs (circRNAs), one of the new types of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), act as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) and compete with mRNAs for shared miRNAs, to regulate gene expression. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the expression and roles of hsa_circ_0000479/hsa-miR-149-5p/RIG-I, IL-6 in COVID-19 infection.
After extraction of total RNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 50 patients with symptomatic COVID-19, 50 patients with nonsymptomatic COVID-19, and 50 normal controls, cDNA synthesis was performed. Online tools were applied to evaluate the interaction between the genes in the hsa_circ_0000479/hsa-miR-149-5p/RIG-I, IL-6 axis, and its role in COVID-19-related pathways. Quantification of the expression of these genes and confirmation of their interaction was done using the quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) technique.
The expression levels of hsa_circ_0000479, RIG-I, and IL-6 were increased in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy controls, while hsa-miR-149-5p expression was decreased. Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between hsa-miR-149-5p and hsa_circ_0000479, RIG-I, IL-6 expressions, and also a positive expression correlation between hsa_circ_0000479 and IL-6, RIG-I. Then, bioinformatics tools revealed the role of hsa_circ_0000479/hsa-miR-149-5p/RIG-I, IL-6 axis in PI3K-AKT and STAT3 signaling pathways.
Upregulation of hsa_circ_0000479, RIG-I, and IL-6, and downregulation of hsa-miR-149-5p, along with correlation studies, indicate that hsa_circ_0000479/hsa-miR-149-5p/RIG-I, IL-6 axis could play a role in regulating the immune response against SARS-CoV-2. However, more studies are needed in this area.
2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）是由严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）引起的疾病，已导致全球大流行及世界各地人群死亡。一些环状RNA（circRNA）作为新型非编码RNA（ncRNA）之一，充当竞争性内源RNA（ceRNA），与mRNA竞争共享的微小RNA（miRNA），从而调节基因表达。在本研究中，我们旨在评估hsa_circ_0000479/hsa-miR-149-5p/RIG-I、白细胞介素-6（IL-6）在COVID-19感染中的表达及作用。
从50例有症状的COVID-19患者、50例无症状的COVID-19患者及50例正常对照者的外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）中提取总RNA后，进行cDNA合成。应用在线工具评估hsa_circ_0000479/hsa-miR-149-5p/RIG-I、IL-6轴中各基因之间的相互作用及其在COVID-19相关通路中的作用。使用定量实时聚合酶链反应（qRT-PCR）技术对这些基因的表达进行定量并确认其相互作用。
与健康对照相比，COVID-19患者中hsa_circ_0000479、RIG-I和IL-6的表达水平升高，而hsa-miR-149-5p表达降低。此外，hsa-miR-149-5p与hsa_circ_0000479、RIG-I、IL-6的表达之间存在显著负相关，hsa_circ_0000479与IL-6、RIG-I之间存在正表达相关性。然后，生物信息学工具揭示了hsa_circ_0000479/hsa-miR-149-5p/RIG-I、IL-6轴在磷脂酰肌醇-3激酶-蛋白激酶B（PI3K-AKT）和信号转导子与转录激活子3（STAT3）信号通路中的作用。
hsa_circ_0000479、RIG-I和IL-6的上调以及hsa-miR-149-5p的下调，连同相关性研究表明，hsa_circ_0000479/hsa-miR-149-5p/RIG-I、IL-6轴可能在调节针对SARS-CoV-2的免疫反应中发挥作用。然而，该领域还需要更多研究。
