TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wang, Yanqun
A1  - Li, Jie
A1  - Zhang, Lu
A1  - Sun, Hai-Xi
A1  - Zhang, Zhaoyong
A1  - Xu, Jinjin
A1  - Xu, Yonghao
A1  - Lin, Yu
A1  - Zhu, Airu
A1  - Luo, Yuxue
A1  - Zhou, Haibo
A1  - Wu, Yan
A1  - Lin, Shanwen
A1  - Sun, Yuzhe
A1  - Xiao, Fei
A1  - Chen, Ruiying
A1  - Wen, Liyan
A1  - Chen, Wei
A1  - Li, Fang
A1  - Ou, Rijing
A1  - Zhang, Yanjun
A1  - Kuo, Tingyou
A1  - Li, Yuming
A1  - Li, Lingguo
A1  - Sun, Jing
A1  - Sun, Kun
A1  - Zhuang, Zhen
A1  - Lu, Haorong
A1  - Chen, Zhao
A1  - Mai, Guoqiang
A1  - Zhuo, Jianfen
A1  - Qian, Puyi
A1  - Chen, Jiayu
A1  - Yang, Huanming
A1  - Wang, Jian
A1  - Xu, Xun
A1  - Zhong, Nanshan
A1  - Zhao, Jingxian
A1  - Li, Junhua
A1  - Zhao, Jincun
A1  - Jin, Xin
T1  - Plasma cell-free RNA characteristics in COVID-19 patients
Y1  - 2022/02/01 
JF  - Genome Research 
JO  - Genome Research 
SP  - 228 
EP  - 241 
DO  - 10.1101/gr.276175.121 
VL  - 32 
IS  - 2 
UR  - http://genome.cshlp.org/content/32/2/228.abstract 
N2  - The pathogenesis of COVID-19 is still elusive, which impedes disease progression prediction, differential diagnosis, and targeted therapy. Plasma cell-free RNAs (cfRNAs) carry unique information from human tissue and thus could point to resourceful solutions for pathogenesis and host-pathogen interactions. Here, we performed a comparative analysis of cfRNA profiles between COVID-19 patients and healthy donors using serial plasma. Analyses of the cfRNA landscape, potential gene regulatory mechanisms, dynamic changes in tRNA pools upon infection, and microbial communities were performed. A total of 380 cfRNA molecules were up-regulated in all COVID-19 patients, of which seven could serve as potential biomarkers (AUC > 0.85) with great sensitivity and specificity. Antiviral (NFKB1A, IFITM3, and IFI27) and neutrophil activation (S100A8, CD68, and CD63)–related genes exhibited decreased expression levels during treatment in COVID-19 patients, which is in accordance with the dynamically enhanced inflammatory response in COVID-19 patients. Noncoding RNAs, including some microRNAs (let 7 family) and long noncoding RNAs (GJA9-MYCBP) targeting interleukin (IL6/IL6R), were differentially expressed between COVID-19 patients and healthy donors, which accounts for the potential core mechanism of cytokine storm syndromes; the tRNA pools change significantly between the COVID-19 and healthy group, leading to the accumulation of SARS-CoV-2 biased codons, which facilitate SARS-CoV-2 replication. Finally, several pneumonia-related microorganisms were detected in the plasma of COVID-19 patients, raising the possibility of simultaneously monitoring immune response regulation and microbial communities using cfRNA analysis. This study fills the knowledge gap in the plasma cfRNA landscape of COVID-19 patients and offers insight into the potential mechanisms of cfRNAs to explain COVID-19 pathogenesis. 
ER  -