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Current Drug Therapy

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1574-8855
ISSN (Online): 2212-3903

Research Article

In Silico Approach to Predict the SARS-COV2 Derived Candidate MiRNAs as a Potential Antiviral Therapy

Author(s): Soudabeh Kavousipour, Shiva Mohammadi, Ebrahim Eftekhar, Sajad Jalili, Elham Arabizadeh, Pooneh Mokaram, Mahdi Barazesh* and Seyed Hamid Moosavy*

Volume 16, Issue 4, 2021

Published on: 18 July, 2021

Page: [364 - 380] Pages: 17

DOI: 10.2174/1574885516666210719091422

Price: $65

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease originating from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Previous experimental studies indicated that during viral infections, viral miRNAs (vmiRNAs) played key roles in pathogen-host interaction, immune escape, host cell death, and tumorigenesis. MiRNAs are small, single-stranded RNAs that exist in viruses as well as in animals. Thus, these molecules can play a pivotal role in viral disease pathogenesis.

Objective: Since no approved drugs or vaccines currently exist for SARS-CoV-2 and its pathogenic mechanism is unknown, the present study aimed to explore and propose vmiRNA platforms as potential antiviral therapeutic agents against SARS-CoV-2. The development of antiviral drugs to target vmiRNAs may result in the down-regulation of viral virulence genes expression and suppression of viral proliferation.

Methods: In this study, to attain insight into the potential role of SARS-CoV-2-derived miRNAs in viral infections, a set of computational methods was used to scan the SARS-CoV-2 genome, eventually predicting 13 potential candidate vmiRNAs. Furthermore, the potential genes were predicted in the human hosts that were the target of these candidate vmiRNAs by applying the mirPath software.

Results: This study proposed a theory indicating that the predicted vmiRNAs might have a plausible role in altering human target gene expression, mainly contributing to a viral infectious state, inflammation, and immune system escape. These vmiRNAs might have therapeutic trends as antiviral agents against COVID-19 infection.

Conclusion: The findings offered a reference idea for a supplementary study on miRNA identification as a drug target and revealed the necessity to increase the understanding of SARS-CoV-2 genome structure for a better combat against the virus.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, microRNA precursor, In silico screening, target prediction, VMir software, drug target.

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