A Specific miRNA Encoded by SARS-CoV-2 as a Diagnostic Tool to Predict Disease Severity in COVID-19 Patients (CoV-miR)

March 16, 2023 updated by: Mingrone Geltrude, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS
Coronavirus disease is caused by SARS-CoV-2, known as 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). To date has caused a large number of deaths causing serious respiratory illness such as pneumonia and lung failure, therefore representing a serious threat to public health. The etiological agent belongs to the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae in the family Coronaviridae, Order Nidovirales. The genome of coronaviruses is composed of an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA with a size varying between 26 kb and 32 kb, becoming the largest genome of known RNA viruses so far. Similar to RNA viruses, this family is characterized by genetic variability and high recombination rate that enable them to be easily distributed among humans and animals worldwide. Considering the huge impact of the pandemic, it is urgent to gain understanding and to build strategies to contain the viral spread. To date, different diagnostic kits for testing the illness are available. Besides diagnosis, the prediction of the severity and prognosis of COVID-19 is essential to stratify patients and allocate them in the adequate medical facilities so as to reduce mortality rates. It has been reported that microRNAs (miRNAs) are valuable biomarkers for disease diagnosis, prognosis and classification. MiRNAs are defined as a class of non-coding RNAs that are able to regulate gene expression by specific binding to complementary regions in coding messenger RNAs, leading to translational repression or decay. Not only that, but also they can be important modulators of viral infections.Previous studies have revealed the presence of miRNA-like small RNAs (milRNAs), which can be encoded by RNA viruses and can actively disrupt the host innate immune responses in order to create a favourable environment for viral replication. On the other side, cellular miRNAs can also play a role on virus replication and pathogenesis.In this case, this pilot project is aimed at their valuable diagnostic potential, in order to diagnose and stratify patients under viral infection. The project came up after receiving information from a Chinese research group, requesting their results to be replicated in Caucasian population. The ROC curves were constructed to demonstrate the accuracy of this specific miRNA in COVID-19 patient stratification and discerning between severe patients from healthy controls. Both ROC curves suggested the miRNA as precise biomarker for differential diagnosis and prognosis of disease severity.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

It will include 120 patients with and without COVID-19 According to the World Health Organization guidance, all patients with COVID-19 enrolled in the study were diagnosed bythe throat swab and RT-PCR method. Patient information was collected from medical records.Total RNA content will be extracted from plasma samples by methods aimed at preserving and isolating small RNA molecules. The kit used will be. mirVANATM PARISTM Isolation Kit (Applied Biosystems, Darmstadt, Germany). The mirVANATM PARISTM Kit begins with homogenization of samples with a special cell disruption buffer and RNA isolation is performed using a procedure that combines the advantages of organic and solid-phase extraction. Once extracted, a fixed volume of RNA solution will be used as the input for the reverse transcription reaction using the TaqMan™ MicroRNA Reverse Transcription Kit (Applied Biosystems, Darmstadt, Germany). The product will be further amplified by real-time PCR using specific primers for the detection of the milRNA previously validated by means of the LightCycler® 480 Real-Time PCR System (Roche Diagnostics, Barcelona, Spain).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

120

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Italy
      • Roma, Italy, 00168
        • Mingrone Geltrude

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 90 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • patient with Covid -19

Exclusion Criteria:

  • age < 18 years

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Screening
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Patients with COVID-19
blood sampling for miRNA analysis
Diagnostic test: miRNA analysis in plasma
blood sample
Other: Patients without COVID-19
blood sampling for miRNA analysis
Diagnostic test: miRNA analysis in plasma
blood sample

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
miRNA analysis in plasma
Time Frame: 1 year
Replicate in our Caucasian cohort previous findings which are under revision in The New England Journal of Medicine, where a miRNA-like small RNA encoded by SARSCoV- 2, has been reported to distinguish severe patients from mild ones and predict the prognosis of COVID-19
1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: geltrude mingrone, professor, Policlinico A. Gemelli IRCCS

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 7, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

July 12, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 21, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 21, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

February 22, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 17, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 16, 2023

Last Verified

March 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 3446

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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