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Plasma miR-195-5p predicts the severity of Covid-19 in hospitalized patients
Alexandra Ioana Moatar1,2, Aimee Rodica Chis1,3, Mirabela Romanescu1,2
1Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Discipline of Biochemistry, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Victor Babes", E Murgu Square no.2, 300041, Timisoara, Romania.
Abstract:
Predicting the clinical course of Covid-19 is a challenging task, given the multi-systemic character of the disease and the paucity of minimally invasive biomarkers of disease severity. Here, we evaluated the early (first two days post-admission) level of circulating hsa-miR-195-5p (miR-195, a known responder to viral infections and SARS-CoV-2 interactor) in Covid-19 patients and assessed its potential as a biomarker of disease severity. We show that plasma miR-195 correlates with several clinical and paraclinical parameters, and is an excellent discriminator between the severe and mild forms of the disease. Our Gene Ontology analysis of miR-195 targets differentially expressed in Covid-19 indicates a strong impact on cardiac mitochondria homeostasis, suggesting a possible role in long Covid and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) syndromes.
Insights
Early levels of human microRNA-195-5p (miR-195) in COVID-19 patients effectively predict disease severity. This biomarker may also play a role in long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Virology
- Genomics
Background:
- Predicting COVID-19 clinical course is difficult due to its multi-systemic nature.
- Minimally invasive biomarkers for disease severity are scarce.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate early circulating hsa-miR-195-5p (miR-195) levels in COVID-19 patients.
- To assess miR-195 as a potential biomarker for COVID-19 disease severity.
Main Methods:
- Measured plasma miR-195 levels within the first two days of hospital admission.
- Correlated miR-195 levels with clinical and paraclinical parameters.
- Performed Gene Ontology analysis on differentially expressed miR-195 targets in COVID-19 patients.
Main Results:
- Plasma miR-195 levels correlated significantly with clinical and paraclinical indicators of disease severity.
- miR-195 demonstrated excellent discrimination between severe and mild COVID-19 cases.
- Gene Ontology analysis revealed that miR-195 targets impact cardiac mitochondria homeostasis.
Conclusions:
- Early plasma miR-195 is a promising biomarker for predicting COVID-19 severity.
- miR-195's impact on cardiac mitochondria suggests a potential role in the pathophysiology of long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome.
