SnoRNAs and miRNAs networks underlying COVID-19 disease severity

Parray, A; Mir, FA; Doudin, A; Iskandarani, A; Danjuma, IMM; Kuni, RAT; Abdelmajid, A; Abdelhafez, I; Arif, R; Mulhim, M; Abukhattab, M; Dar, SR; Moustafa, A-EA; Elkord, E; Al Khal, AL; Elzouki, A-N; Cyprian, F

Abstract

There is a lack of predictive markers for early and rapid identification of disease progression in COVID-19 patients. Our study aims at identifying microRNAs (miRNAs)/small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) as potential biomarkers of COVID-19 severity. Using differential expression analysis of microarray data (n = 29), we identified hsa-miR-1246, ACA40, hsa-miR-4532, hsa-miR-145-5p, and ACA18 as the top five differentially expressed transcripts in severe versus asymptomatic, and ACA40, hsa-miR-3609, ENSG00000212378 (SNORD78), hsa-miR-1231, hsa-miR-885-3p as the most significant five in severe versus mild cases. Moreover, we found that white blood cell (WBC) count, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), neutrophil (%), lymphocyte (%), red blood cell (RBC) count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, D-Dimer, and albumin are significantly correlated with the identified differentially expressed miRNAs and snoRNAs. We report a unique miRNA and snoRNA profile that is associated with a higher risk of severity in a cohort of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. Altogether, we present a differential expression analysis of COVID-19-associated microRNA (miRNA)/small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) signature, highlighting their importance in SARS-CoV-2 infection.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 19, 2021
• Publication Date: Sep 23, 2021
• Deposit Date: Sep 27, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 27, 2021
• Journal: Vaccines
• Electronic ISSN: 2076-393X
• Publisher: MDPI
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 10
• Pages: e1056
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9101056
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9101056
• Related Public URLs: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/vaccines
• Additional Information: Additional Information : ** From MDPI via Jisc Publications Router ** Licence for this article: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ **Journal IDs: eissn 2076-393X **History: published 23-09-2021; accepted 19-09-2021; Funders : Qatar University; Grant Number: QUST-1-CMED-2021-2