Are Antisense Long Non-Coding RNA Related to COVID-19?

Eman Ae Badr; Ibrahim Eltantawy El Sayed; Mohanad Kareem Razak Gabber; Eman Abd Elrehem Ghobashy; Abdullah G Al-Sehemi; Hamed Algarni; Yasser As Elghobashy

doi:10.3390/biomedicines10112770

Are Antisense Long Non-Coding RNA Related to COVID-19?

Biomedicines. 2022 Nov 1;10(11):2770. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10112770.

Authors

Eman Ae Badr¹, Ibrahim Eltantawy El Sayed², Mohanad Kareem Razak Gabber², Eman Abd Elrehem Ghobashy³, Abdullah G Al-Sehemi^{4

5}, Hamed Algarni^{4

6}, Yasser As Elghobashy¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebeen El-Kom 32511, Egypt.
² Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shebeen El-Kom 32511, Egypt.
³ Faculty of Applied Health Science Technology, Menoufia University, Shebeen El-Kom 32511, Egypt.
⁴ Research Centre for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Fighting external pathogens relies on the tight regulation of the gene expression of the immune system. Ferroptosis, which is a distinct form of programmed cell death driven by iron, is involved in the enhancement of follicular helper T cell function during infection. The regulation of RNA is a key step in final gene expression. The present study aimed to identify the expression level of antisense lncRNAs (A2M-AS1, DBH-AS1, FLVCR1-DT, and NCBP2AS2-1) and FLVCR1 in COVID-19 patients and its relation to the severity of the disease. COVID-19 patients as well as age and gender-matched healthy controls were enrolled in this study. The expression level of the antisense lncRNAs was measured by RT-PCR. Results revealed the decreased expression of A2M-AS1 and FLVCR1 in COVID-19 patients. Additionally, they showed the increased expression of DBH-AS1, FLVCR1-DT, and NCBP2AS2. Both FLVCR1-DT and NCBP2AS2 showed a positive correlation with interleukin-6 (IL-6). DBH-AS1 and FLVCR1-DT had a significant association with mortality, complications, and mechanical ventilation. A significant negative correlation was found between A2M-AS1 and NCBP2AS2-1 and between FLVCR1 and FLVCR1-DT. The study confirmed that the expression level of the antisense lncRNAs was deregulated in COVID-19 patients and correlated with the severity of COVID-19, and that it may have possible roles in the pathogenesis of this disease.

Keywords: A2M-AS1; COVID-19; DBH-AS1; FLVCR1; FLVCR1-DT; LncRNAs.

Grants and funding

The authors acknowledge the support and funding received from King Khalid University through the Research Center for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS) under grant no. RCAMS/KKU/009/21.