Serum microRNA signature is capable of predictive and prognostic factor for SARS-COV-2 virulence

Demiray, A.; Sari, T.; Caliskan, A.; Nar, R.; Aksoy, L.; Akbubak, I. H.

Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a kind of viral pneumonia which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small non-coding RNAs consisting of 19-25 nucleotides and play a role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. We have focused on serum expression levels of microRNA (miRNA) a novel concept of in host-virus interactions. MicroRNA expression profiles were investigated in serum samples of COVID-19 patients. Materials and methods: The samples were collected from 40 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 patients and from 10 healthy controls. Expression profile of 20 miRNAs were examined using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Results: Statistically significant expression level differences (p < 0.05) were detected in nine miRNAs in COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. 7 miRNAs (hsa-let-7d, hsa-miR-17, hsa-miR-34b, hsa-miR-93, hsa-miR-200b, hsa-miR-200c, hsa-miR-223) expression levels were found to be significantly decreased and the expression levels of 2 miRNAs (hsa-miR-190a and hsa-miR-203) significantly increased respect to healthy controls. Conclusions: We expect that a miRNA profile can be beneficial for the diagnosis of the COVID-19. Our result revealed that the increase in hsa-miR-190a level may be a prognostic factor related to the COVID-19 disease.