P-24 DESCRIPTION OF SERUM MICRORNAS EXPRESSION AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH VIRAL HEPATITIS AND LONG COVID

Conflict of interest

No

Introduction and Objectives

Long COVID syndrome affects millions of people and is characterized by the permanence of signs and symptoms after 90 days of SARS-CoV-2 infection. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that are related to different conditions and can characterize profiles including liver disease. OBJECTIVES: Characterize the serum expression of miRNAs in relation to viral hepatitis B and C and Long COVID.

Patients / Materials and Methods

Serums were obtained from 69 individuals from 4 groups: (i) only Long COVID (n=18); (ii) Viral Hepatitis/Long COVID (n=21); (iii) only Viral Hepatitis (n=10) and (iv) control individuals (n=20). MiRNAs were isolated using a commercial extraction kit and miR-122, miR-143 and miR-223 were evaluated using quantitative real-time PCR. The expression of the examined genes was calculated from the formula RQ = 2-ΔΔCT. Statistical analysis was carried out using GraphPad Prism 9.5.1 software.

Results and Discussion

The upregulation of the miRNAs analyzed was observed in the groups with diseases compared to the control, all with statistical significance (p<0.05). Of the groups with diseases, the Viral Hepatitis/Long COVID group showed the highest expression of all three miRNAs analyzed. For miR-122, the Viral Hepatitis/Long COVID and only Viral Hepatitis groups were up-regulated with mean RQ of 100.38 ± 122.06 and 80.72 ± 173.16, respectively, compared to the control 3.20 ± 8.75 (p<0.05). For miR-143 and mir-223, the highest expression was in the Hepatitis/Long COVID (mean RQ: 316.36 ± 572.96 and 270.45 ± 558.55, respectively) followed by the only Long COVID group (mean RQ: 158.12 ± 262.42 and 115.65 ± 191.30, respectively), both with statistical significance when compared to the control (mean RQ: 4.12 ± 5.37 and 3.78 ± 8.5, respectively).

Conclusions

The presence of disease affects the expression of these miRNAs when compared to healthy individuals. The description of these targets will contribute to the understanding of Long COVID and its association with other diseases.