Biocritic, Group for Biomedical Research in Critical Care Medicine.
National Influenza Centre, Valladolid, Spain.
J Infect Dis. 2024 Oct 16;230(4):901-911. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiae310.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs), containing microRNAs (miRNAs) and other molecules, play a central role in intercellular communication, especially in viral infections caused by SARS-CoV-2. This study explores the miRNA profiles in plasma-derived EVs from patients with severe COVID-19 vs controls, identifying potential mortality predictors.
This prospective study included 36 patients with severe COVID-19 and 33 controls without COVID-19. EV-derived miRNAs were sequenced, and bioinformatics and differential expression analysis between groups were performed. The plasma miRNA profile of an additional cohort of patients with severe COVID-19 (n = 32) and controls (n = 12) was used to compare with our data. Survival analysis identified potential mortality predictors among the significantly differentially expressed (SDE) miRNAs in EVs.
Patients with severe COVID-19 showed 50 SDE miRNAs in plasma-derived EVs. These miRNAs were associated with pathways related to inflammation and cell adhesion. Fifteen of these plasma-derived EV miRNAs were SDE in the plasma of severe cases vs controls. Two miRNAs, hsa-miR-1469 and hsa-miR-6124, were identified as strong mortality predictors with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.938.
This research provides insights into the role of miRNAs within EVs in severe COVID-19 and their potential as clinical biomarkers for mortality.
细胞外囊泡（EVs），包含 microRNAs（miRNAs）和其他分子，在细胞间通讯中发挥核心作用，特别是在由 SARS-CoV-2 引起的病毒感染中。本研究探讨了严重 COVID-19 患者与对照组血浆来源 EV 中的 miRNA 图谱，以确定潜在的死亡率预测因子。
这项前瞻性研究纳入了 36 例严重 COVID-19 患者和 33 例无 COVID-19 的对照组。对 EV 衍生的 miRNAs 进行测序，并对组间进行生物信息学和差异表达分析。使用严重 COVID-19 患者（n=32）和对照组（n=12）的另外一组患者的血浆 miRNA 谱与我们的数据进行比较。生存分析确定了 EV 中差异表达（SDE）miRNAs 中的潜在死亡率预测因子。
严重 COVID-19 患者的血浆衍生 EV 中显示出 50 个 SDE miRNAs。这些 miRNAs 与炎症和细胞黏附相关途径有关。其中 15 个血浆衍生 EV miRNAs 在严重病例与对照组的血浆中存在 SDE。miR-1469 和 miR-6124 这两个 miRNA 被确定为具有很强的死亡率预测能力，接收器操作特征曲线下面积为 0.938。
这项研究深入了解了 miRNA 在严重 COVID-19 中 EV 中的作用及其作为死亡率临床生物标志物的潜力。
