Using MicroRNA Arrays as a Tool to Evaluate COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy

Yen-Pin Lin; Yi-Shan Hsieh; Mei-Hsiu Cheng; Ching-Fen Shen; Ching-Ju Shen; Chao-Min Cheng

doi:10.3390/vaccines10101681

Using MicroRNA Arrays as a Tool to Evaluate COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy

Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Oct 8;10(10):1681. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10101681.

Authors

Yen-Pin Lin¹, Yi-Shan Hsieh², Mei-Hsiu Cheng², Ching-Fen Shen³, Ching-Ju Shen⁴, Chao-Min Cheng¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan.
² Taiwan Business Development Department, Inti Taiwan, Inc., Hsinchu 302, Taiwan.
³ Department of Pediatrics, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.

Abstract

In order to solve COVID-19 pandemic, the entire world has invested considerable manpower to develop various new vaccines to temporarily alleviate the disaster caused by the epidemic. In addition to the development of vaccines, we need to also develop effective assessment methods to confirm vaccines' efficacy and maximize the benefits that vaccines can bring. In addition to common evaluation methods, vaccine-specific and temporal expression of microRNAs have been shown to be related to vaccine efficacy or vaccine-associated diseases. In this article, we have introduced a microRNA-array-based approach, which could be potentially used for evaluating COVID-19 vaccine efficacy, specifically for pregnant women. As the mRNA in mRNA vaccines is decomposed by host cells within a few days, it is considered more suitable for pregnant women to utilize the method of vaccination during pregnancy. Moreover, pregnant women belong to a high-risk group for COVID-19, and there is currently no appropriate vaccine to newborns. Therefore, it's important to find improved tools for evaluation of vaccine efficacy in response to the current situation caused by COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; immune response; mRNA vaccine; microRNA array; pregnancy.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council (NSTC 111-2314-B-006-085 & NSTC 111-2628-E-007-005-MY2) and Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital (KMUH110-0M42).