SARS-CoV-2-associated organs failure and inflammation: a focus on the role of cellular and viral microRNAs

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 has been responsible for the recent pandemic all over the world, which has caused many complications. One of the hallmarks of SARS-CoV-2 infection is an induced immune dysregulation, in some cases resulting in cytokine storm syndrome, acute respiratory distress syndrome and many organs such as lungs, brain, and heart that are affected during the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Several physiological parameters are altered as a result of infection and cytokine storm. Among them, microRNAs (miRNAs) might reflect this poor condition since they play a significant role in immune cellular performance including inflammatory responses. Both host and viral-encoded miRNAs are crucial for the successful infection of SARS-CoV-2. For instance, dysregulation of miRNAs that modulate multiple genes expressed in COVID-19 patients with comorbidities (e.g., type 2 diabetes, and cerebrovascular disorders) could affect the severity of the disease. Therefore, altered expression levels of circulating miRNAs might be helpful to diagnose this illness and forecast whether a COVID-19 patient could develop a severe state of the disease. Moreover, a number of miRNAs could inhibit the expression of proteins, such as ACE2, TMPRSS2, spike, and Nsp12, involved in the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2. Accordingly, miRNAs represent potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for this devastating viral disease. In the current study, we investigated modifications in miRNA expression and their influence on COVID-19 disease recovery, which may be employed as a therapy strategy to minimize COVID-19-related disorders.

Keywords: COVID-19; Inflammation; Organ failure; SARS-CoV-2; microRNA.

Fig. 1

General mechanism of human and viral miRNAs function in target organs’ inflammation induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Following the entry of the virus into the target cell and transcription of viral miRNAs (red), these miRNAs increase cell inflammation and impair cell function by binding to cellular proteins. In addition, overexpression of immune cells leads to excessive secretion of inflammatory cytokines. While, the expression of host miRNAs (light green) by regulating the immune cells’ function and the inflammatory cytokines secretion can in turn reduce the inflammation and lead to the maintenance of cell homeostasis