Cognitive dysfunction associated with COVID-19: Prognostic role of circulating biomarkers and microRNAs

Marissa Alvarez; Erick Trent; Bruno De Souza Goncalves; Duane G Pereira; Raghav Puri; Nicolas Anthony Frazier; Komal Sodhi; Sneha S Pillai

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.1020092

Cognitive dysfunction associated with COVID-19: Prognostic role of circulating biomarkers and microRNAs

Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Oct 4:14:1020092. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.1020092. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Marissa Alvarez¹, Erick Trent¹, Bruno De Souza Goncalves¹, Duane G Pereira¹, Raghav Puri¹, Nicolas Anthony Frazier¹, Komal Sodhi¹, Sneha S Pillai¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Surgery, Biomedical Sciences and Medicine, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, United States.

Abstract

COVID-19 is renowned as a multi-organ disease having subacute and long-term effects with a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations. The evolving scientific and clinical evidence demonstrates that the frequency of cognitive impairment after COVID-19 is high and it is crucial to explore more clinical research and implement proper diagnostic and treatment strategies. Several central nervous system complications have been reported as comorbidities of COVID-19. The changes in cognitive function associated with neurodegenerative diseases develop slowly over time and are only diagnosed at an already advanced stage of molecular pathology. Hence, understanding the common links between COVID-19 and neurodegenerative diseases will broaden our knowledge and help in strategizing prognostic and therapeutic approaches. The present review focuses on the diverse neurodegenerative changes associated with COVID-19 and will highlight the importance of major circulating biomarkers and microRNAs (miRNAs) associated with the disease progression and severity. The literature analysis showed that major proteins associated with central nervous system function, such as Glial fibrillary acidic protein, neurofilament light chain, p-tau 181, Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1, S100 calcium-binding protein B, Neuron-specific enolase and various inflammatory cytokines, were significantly altered in COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, among various miRNAs that are having pivotal roles in various neurodegenerative diseases, miR-146a, miR-155, Let-7b, miR-31, miR-16 and miR-21 have shown significant dysregulation in COVID-19 patients. Thus the review consolidates the important findings from the numerous studies to unravel the underlying mechanism of neurological sequelae in COVID-19 and the possible association of circulatory biomarkers, which may serve as prognostic predictors and therapeutic targets in future research.

Keywords: COVID-19; circulating biomarkers; cognitive impairment; microRNAs; neurodegenerative diseases.

Publication types

Review