Decreased serum levels of the inflammaging marker miR-146a are associated with clinical non-response to tocilizumab in COVID-19 patients.
Mech Ageing Dev
; 193: 111413, 2021 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-969077
ABSTRACT
Current COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented threat to global health and healthcare systems. The most amount of the death toll is accounted by old people affected by age-related diseases that develop a hyper-inflammatory syndrome. In this regard, we hypothesized that COVID-19 severity may be linked to inflammaging. Here, we examined 30 serum samples from patients enrolled in the clinical trial NCT04315480 assessing the clinical response to a single-dose intravenous infusion of the anti-IL-6 receptor drug Tocilizumab (TCZ) in COVID-19 patients with multifocal interstitial pneumonia. In these serum samples, as well as in 29 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects, we assessed a set of microRNAs that regulate inflammaging, i.e. miR-146a-5p, miR-21-5p, and miR-126-3p, which were quantified by RT-PCR and Droplet Digital PCR. We showed that COVID-19 patients who did not respond to TCZ have lower serum levels of miR-146a-5p after the treatment (p = 0.007). Among non-responders, those with the lowest serum levels of miR-146a-5p experienced the most adverse outcome (p = 0.008). Our data show that a blood-based biomarker, such as miR-146a-5p, can provide clues about the molecular link between inflammaging and COVID-19 clinical course, thus allowing to better understand the use of biologic drug armory against this worldwide health threat.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
MicroRNAs
/
Pandemics
/
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
/
Circulating MicroRNA
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
COVID-19 Drug Treatment
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Mech Ageing Dev
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.mad.2020.111413
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