NEAT1 and MALAT1 are highly expressed in saliva and nasopharyngeal swab samples of COVID-19 patients

• Main Authors: Adamoski, D. (Author), Araujo-Souza, P.S (Author), Bonatto, A.C (Author), Carvalho de Oliveira, J. (Author), Genelhould, G. (Author), Gradia, D.F (Author), Nogueira, M.B (Author), Raboni, S.M (Author), Rodrigues, A.C (Author), Yamaguto, G.E (Author), Zhen, F. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley and Sons Inc 2021
• Subjects: adult; Article; controlled study; coronavirus disease 2019; COVID-19; disease severity; gene expression; human; human tissue; Humans; lncRNA; long untranslated RNA; long untranslated RNA MALAT1; long untranslated RNA NEAT1; MALAT1; nasopharyngeal samples; nasopharyngeal swab; nasopharynx; Nasopharynx; NEAT1; nonhuman; protein expression; real time polymerase chain reaction; receiver operating characteristic; saliva; Saliva; saliva analysis; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; unclassified drug; upregulation; virus infectivity
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher
• ISBN: 20411006 (ISSN)
• DOI: 10.1111/omi.12351

COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has become a significant global public health problem, with a wide variety of clinical manifestations and disease progression outcomes. LncRNAs are key regulators of the immune response and have been associated with COVID-19 risk infection. Previous studies focused mainly on in-silico analysis of lncRNA expression in the lungs or peripheral blood cells. We evaluated the expression of lncRNAs NEAT1, MALAT1, and MIR3142 in saliva and nasopharyngeal swab from SARS-CoV-2 positive (n = 34) and negative patients (n = 46). A higher expression of the lncRNAs NEAT1 and MALAT1 (p < 0.05) were found in positive samples. NEAT1 had a higher expression mainly in saliva samples (p < 0.001), and MALAT1 was upregulated in nasopharyngeal samples (p < 0.05). Area under the ROC curve for NEAT1 in saliva was 0.8067. This study was the first to investigate the expression of lncRNAs in saliva and nasopharyngeal samples of COVID-19 patients, which gives new insights into the initial response to infection and infectivity and may provide new biomarkers for severity and targets for therapy. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.