EXPRESSION PROFILE OF MIR-9, MIR-138, MIR-424, MIR-155 AND CTLA-4 IN THE BLOOD MONONUCLEAR CELLS OF PATIENTS WITH SARS COV-2 INFECTION
Main Article Content
Keywords
miR-9, miR-138, miR-424, miR-155, CTLA-4, SARS Cov-2, Biomarker, Gene expression
Abstract
Background: The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the pathogen that causes COVID-19, a highly infectious illness. More research is being done on the potential of host biomarkers as diagnostic and prognostic tools for COVID-19. MicroRNAs have been shown to be essential for both the pathogenicity of coronavirus and the host's antiviral responses. Our aim was to assess the blood mononuclear cells expression profiles of mir-9, mir-138, mir-424, mir-155 and CTLA-4, and their association with the clinicopathological features of the patients with SARS CoV-2 infection.
Method: This case-control study included 66 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients in the chronic and active phase of the disease and a healthy group of 41 people matched for age and sex. Blood samples were taken from the subjects and total RNA was purified from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The qRT-PCR was used to reveal the expression profile of miR-9, miR-138, miR-424, miR-155, and CTLA-4 genes, and compared between the patient and control groups. The diagnostic potential of CTLA-4 and miRNAs was assessed using ROC curve analysis.
Results: This investigation demonstrated a significant increase in the expression levels of miR-9, miR-138, miR-424, miR-155, and CTLA-4 (P < 0.0001) in SARS-CoV-2 patients compared to the healthy controls. We found that the expression levels of miR-9, miR-138, and miR-424 were positively correlated with CRP (p value=0.000) in the patients group. Also, a significant negative correlation was obtained between the expression of miR-9 and ESR (p-value = 0.040) in the patients group. Furthermore, the results of the ROC curve analysis indicated that the expression levels of miR-9, miR-138, miR-424, miR-155, and CTLA-4 in the blood mononuclear cells could distinguish the SARS-CoV-2 patients from healthy controls.
Conclusion: Expressions of miR-9, miR-138, miR-424, miR-155, and CTLA-4 were upregulated in COVID-19 which might be considered as potential molecular biomarkers for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis.
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Ali Abdulkadhim Jasim Al-Badri
Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
Mohammad Khalaj-Kondori
Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
Mohammad Ali Hosseinpour Feizi
Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
Mehdi Haghi
Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran