Blood snoRNAs and miRNAs as predictors of COVID-19 Severity

There is a lack of predictive markers for early and rapid identification of disease progression in COVID-19 patients. Our study aims at identifying non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) as potential biomarkers of COVID-19 severity. Using differential expression analysis of microarray data (n = 29), we identified hsa-miR-494-3p, hsa-miR-1246, ACA40, hsa-miR-4532, ACA15 as the top five differentially expressed transcripts in severe versus asymptomatic, and ACA40, hsa-miR-3609, hsa-miR-6790-5p, hsa-miR-126-3p, hsa-miR-885-3p as the most significant five in severe versus mild cases. Moreover, we found that WBC count, absolute neutrophil count, neutrophil (%), lymphocyte (%), RBC count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, D-Dimer and albumin were significantly correlated with the identified ncRNAs. Altogether, we present the first comprehensive analysis of COVID-19-associated microRNA (miRNA)/ small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) signature, highlighting the importance of ncRNAs in SARS-CoV-2 infection. One-Sentence Summary We show a unique miRNA and snoRNA profile that is associated with a higher risk of severity in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients.