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Circulating microRNA profile in response to remdesivir treatment in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients

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Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a serious infectious disease caused by the recently discovered severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused a major global health crisis. Although no specific antiviral drugs have been proven to be fully effective against COVID-19, remdesivir (GS-5734), a nucleoside analogue prodrug, has shown beneficial effects when used to treat severe hospitalized COVID-19 cases. The molecular mechanism underlying this beneficial therapeutic effect is still vaguely understood. In this study, we assessed the effect of remdesivir treatment on the pattern of circulating miRNAs in the plasma of COVID-19 patients, which was analyzed using MiRCURY LNA miRNA miRNome qPCR Panels and confirmed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR). The results revealed that remdesivir treatment can restore the levels of miRNAs that are upregulated in COVID-19 patients to the range observed in healthy subjects. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that these miRNAs are involved in diverse biological processes, including the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), hippo, P53, mucin-type O-glycan biosynthesis, and glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis signaling pathways. On the other hand, three miRNAs (hsa-miR-7-5p, hsa-miR-10b-5p, and hsa-miR-130b-3p) were found to be upregulated in patients receiving remdesivir treatment and in patients who experienced natural remission. These upregulated miRNAs could serve as biomarkers of COVID-19 remission. This study highlights that the therapeutic potential of remdesivir involves alteration of certain miRNA-regulated biological processes. Targeting of these miRNAs should therefore be considered for future COVID-19 treatment strategies.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Lebanese University.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Co-senior authors: Hussein Fayyad-Kazan and Bassam Badran.

  2. Co-first authors: Mohammad Fayyad-Kazan and Rawan Makki.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural and Applied Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, The American University of Iraq-Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq

    Mohammad Fayyad-Kazan

  2. Laboratory of Cancer biology and Molecular Immunology, Faculty of Sciences-I, Lebanese University, Hadath-Beirut, Lebanon

    Rawan Makki, Mahmoud El Homsi, Rania El Majzoub, Eva Hamade, Hussein Fayyad-Kazan & Bassam Badran

  3. Molecular diagnostics Laboratory, Saida Governmental Hospital, Saida, Lebanon

    Ahmad Samadi & Hilal Chaaban

  4. Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Lebanese International University, Beirut, Lebanon

    Rania El Majzoub

Authors
  1. Mohammad Fayyad-Kazan
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  2. Rawan Makki
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  8. Hussein Fayyad-Kazan
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Correspondence to Mohammad Fayyad-Kazan or Bassam Badran.

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All procedures involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the local ethics committee of the Lebanese University and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Fayyad-Kazan, M., Makki, R., Homsi, M.E. et al. Circulating microRNA profile in response to remdesivir treatment in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Arch Virol 168, 194 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-023-05825-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-023-05825-3

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