Title:The Impact of lncRNA-GAS5/miRNA-200/ACE2 Molecular Pathway
on the Severity of COVID-19
Volume: 31
Issue: 9
Author(s): Ghada Ayeldeen, Olfat G. Shaker, Eman Amer, Mai A. Zaafan, Mohamed R. Herzalla, Mofida A. Keshk and Amr M. Abdelhamid*
Affiliation:
- Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, October University for Modern
Sciences and Arts (MSA), 6th of October City, Egypt
Keywords:
COVID-19, ACE2, lncRNA-GAS5, miRNA-200, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), ROC.
Abstract:
Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-
2), which is responsible for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), potentially has severe
adverse effects, leading to public health crises worldwide. In COVID-19, deficiency of
ACE-2 is linked to increased inflammation and cytokine storms via increased angiotensin
II levels and decreased ACE-2/Mas receptor axis activity. MiRNAs are small
sequences of noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression by binding to the targeted
mRNAs. MiR-200 dysfunction has been linked to the development of ARDS following
acute lung injury and has been proposed as a key regulator of ACE2 expression. LncRNA
growth arrest-specific transcript 5 (GAS5) has been recently studied for its modulatory
effect on the miRNA-200/ACE2 axis.
Objective: The current study aims to investigate the role of lncRNA GAS5, miRNA-200,
and ACE2 as new COVID-19 diagnostic markers capable of predicting the severity of
SARS-CoV-2 complications.
Methods: A total of 280 subjects were classified into three groups: COVID-19-negative
controls (n = 80), and COVID-19 patients (n=200) who required hospitalization were
classified into two groups: group (2) moderate cases (n = 112) and group (3) severe cases
(n = 88).
Results: The results showed that the serum GAS5 expression was significantly down-expressed
in COVID-19 patients; as a consequence, the expression of miR-200 was reported
to be overexpressed and its targeted ACE2 was down-regulated. The ROC curve was
drawn to examine the diagnostic abilities of GAS5, miR-200, and ACE2, yielding high diagnostic
accuracy with high sensitivity and specificity.
Conclusion: lncRNA-GAS5, miRNA-200, and ACE2 panels presented great diagnostic
potential as they demonstrated the highest diagnostic accuracy for discriminating moderate
COVID-19 and severe COVID-19 cases.
