The role of miR-150 in COVID-19 as a prognostic biomarker and a key regulator of pathway dynamics during disease progression

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic resulting from the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections caused a global public health crisis that significantly affected the lives of many individuals worldwide. Understanding SARS-CoV-2 host-virus interactions led to insights into disease progression and potential treatments. miR-150, a 22-nucleotide single-stranded microRNA that does not code for a protein, has been shown to regulate human genome transcripts and play a role in viral pathogenesis. This study analyzed the role of miR-150 in COVID-19 to determine its role in pathogenesis and disease progression. The miRNA sequence data from three studies were examined: GSE176498 – dataset 1, GSE166160- data set 2 from plasma samples and GSE158877- data set 3 from serum samples. Differentially expressed microRNAs were identified using the edgeR package. Genes, pathways, pathway dynamics, and protein-protein interactions were predicted using bioinformatics tools. miR-150-3p and miR-150-5p were down-regulated in all datasets, with miR-150-3p showing significant down-regulation in the first two datasets (P <0.05; Log Fold Change: Data set 1: -0.3557, Data set 2: -2.7214). The area under the curve (AUC) values for miR-150-5p were 0.88, 0.58, and 0.65, while miR-150-3p exhibited AUC values of 0.74, 0.59, and 0.55 for datasets 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Pathway analysis identified immune-related pathways impacted by the downregulation of miR-150 in worsening disease outcomes. The study reveals that COVID-19 affects biological pathways such as Wnt, IFN, NF-κB, PI3K/Akt, and MAPK, with miR-150 playing a crucial role in these pathways. Our results indicate that miR-150 may serve as a potential biomarker for prognosis of severity of COVID-19 infection.