1. Academic Validation
  2. Comparative Analysis of Long Non-Coding RNA Expression and Immune Response in Mild and Severe COVID-19

Comparative Analysis of Long Non-Coding RNA Expression and Immune Response in Mild and Severe COVID-19

  • Front Mol Biosci. 2022 Apr 27;9:835590. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.835590.
Yongting Zhang 1 Fan Shi 1 Yuchong Wang 1 Yuting Meng 1 Qiong Zhang 1 Kaihang Wang 1 Ping Zeng 1 Hongyan Diao 1
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a worldwide emergency, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) do not encode proteins but could participate in immune response. Methods: In our study, 39 COVID-19 patients were enrolled. The microarray of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy and COVID-19 patients was applied to identify the expression profiles of lncRNAs and mRNAs. Identified differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs were validated by qRT-PCR. Then, the lncRNA-mRNA network was constructed and visualized using Cytoscape (3.6.1) based on the Pearson correlation coefficient. The enrichment of DE mRNAs was analyzed using Metascape. The difference in frequencies of immune cells and cytokines was detected using CIBERSORT and ImmPort based on DE mRNAs. Results: All patients with COVID-19 displayed lymphopenia, especially in T cells, and hyper-inflammatory responses, including IL-6 and TNF-α. Four immune-related lncRNAs in COVID-19 were found and further validated, including AC136475.9, CATG00000032642.1, G004246, and XLOC_013290. Functional analysis enriched in downregulation of the T-cell receptor and the antigen processing and presentation as well as increased apoptotic proteins, which could lead to T-cell cytopenia. In addition, they participated in monocyte remodeling, which contributed to releasing cytokines and chemokines and then recruiting more monocytes and aggravating the clinical severity of COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: Taken together, four lncRNAs were in part of immune response in COVID-19, which was involved in the T-cell cytopenia by downregulating the antigen processing and presentation, the T-cell receptor, and an increased proportion of monocytes, with a distinct change in cytokines and chemokines.

Keywords

COVID-19; PBMC; T-cell; lncRNA; monocyte.

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