Therapeutic potential of miRNAs targeting SARS-CoV-2 host cell receptor ACE2

Abstract

In late December 2019, several cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (COVID-19) were reported in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. Based on clinical findings, blood tests and chest radiographs, this disease was diagnosed as a virus-associated pneumonia. Sequence analysis revealed a novel coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2 (formerly called 2019-nCoV), as the causative agent of pneumonia of unknown etiology. So far, the SARS-CoV-2 infection continues to spread, and this virus poses a serious public health threat. In this study, it was aimed to reveal potential miRNA targets for the regulation of SARS-CoV-2 host cell receptor ACE2. For the identification of potential miRNA targets for the ACE2 gene, TarBase v.8 (DIANA Tools), TargetScan, miRTarBase and miRDB miRNA-target prediction algorithms were used. FANTOM5 CAGE was used for the cellular ontology analysis. Expression levels of these miRNAs were determined using OncomiR Pan-Cancer miRNome Atlas. The results suggest that members of miR-200 family of miRNAs, especially miR-200c-3p, are strong candidate targets for the regulation of ACE2 in respiratory system cells. Consequently, the present study for the first time emphasizes potential use of miRNA-based therapeutics in the battle against SARS-CoV-2 infection and its deadly disease, COVID-19.

Keywords: ACE2; Coronavirus; Covid-19; SARS-CoV-2; miRNA; miRNA therapeutics.

Fig. 1

Prediction of miRNAs targeting ACE2 using TarBase v.8, TargetScan, miRTarBase and miRDB. A. Venn diagram of miRNAs targeting ACE2 B. Complementary binding positions of highly conserved miR-200b-3p and miR-200c-3p with ACE2.