SARS-CoV-2 causes a significant stress response mediated by small RNAs in the blood of COVID-19 patients

• Main Authors: Xi Liu (Author), Yan-Zi Wen (Author), Zi-Liang Huang (Author), Xia Shen (Author), Jun-Hao Wang (Author), Yi-Hai Luo (Author), Wen-Xin Chen (Author), Zhao-Rong Lun (Author), Hui-Bin Li (Author), Liang-Hu Qu (Author), Hong Shan (Author), Ling-Ling Zheng (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Elsevier, 2022-03-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 2162-2531; 10.1016/j.omtn.2021.12.034
• Keywords: coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); small RNAs; stress; microRNAs (miRNAs); tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs); Therapeutics. Pharmacology; RM1-950
• Source: Molecular Therapy: Nucleic Acids, Vol 27, Iss , Pp 751-762 (2022)

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has had a serious impact on the world. In this study, small RNAs from the blood of COVID-19 patients with moderate or severe symptoms were extracted for high-throughput sequencing and analysis. Interestingly, the levels of a special group of tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) were found to be dramatically upregulated after SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with severe symptoms. In particular, the 3'CCA tsRNAs from tRNA-Gly were highly consistent with the inflammation indicator C-reactive protein (CRP). In addition, we found that the majority of significantly changed microRNAs (miRNAs) were associated with endoplasmic reticulum (ER)/unfolded protein response (UPR) sensors, which may lead to the induction of proinflammatory cytokine and immune responses. This study found that SARS-CoV-2 infection caused significant changes in the levels of stress-associated small RNAs in patient blood and their potential functions. Our research revealed that the cells of COVID-19 patients undergo tremendous stress and respond, which can be reflected or regulated by small non-coding RNA (sncRNAs), thus providing potential thought for therapeutic intervention in COVID-19 by modulating small RNA levels or activities.