PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - J. Tyson McDonald
AU  - Francisco Javier Enguita
AU  - Deanne Taylor
AU  - Richard A. Bowen
AU  - Robert J. Griffin
AU  - Waldemar Priebe
AU  - Mark R. Emmett
AU  - Marisa McGrath
AU  - Mohammad M. Sajadi
AU  - Anthony D. Harris
AU  - Jean Clement
AU  - Joseph M. Dybas
AU  - Nukhet Aykin-Burns
AU  - Joseph W. Guarnieri
AU  - Larry N. Singh
AU  - Peter Grabham
AU  - Stephen B. Baylin
AU  - Aliza Yousey
AU  - Andrea N. Pearson
AU  - Peter M. Corry
AU  - Amanda Saravia-Butler
AU  - Thomas R. Aunins
AU  - Prashant Nagpal
AU  - Cem Meydan
AU  - Jonathan Foox
AU  - Christopher Mozsary
AU  - Bianca Cerqueira
AU  - Viktorija Zaksas
AU  - Urminder Singh
AU  - Eve Syrkin Wurtele
AU  - Sylvain V. Costes
AU  - Diego Galeano
AU  - Alberto Paccanaro
AU  - Suzanne L. Meinig
AU  - Robert S. Hagan
AU  - Natalie M Bowman
AU  - UNC COVID-19 Pathobiology Consortium
AU  - Matthew C. Wolfgang
AU  - Selin Altinok
AU  - Nicolae Sapoval
AU  - Todd J. Treangen
AU  - Matthew Frieman
AU  - Charles Vanderburg
AU  - Douglas C. Wallace
AU  - Jonathan Schisler
AU  - Christopher E. Mason
AU  - Anushree Chatterjee
AU  - Robert Meller
AU  - Afshin Beheshti
TI  - The Great Deceiver: miR-2392’s Hidden Role in Driving SARS-CoV-2 Infection
AID  - 10.1101/2021.04.23.441024
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.04.23.441024
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/26/2021.04.23.441024.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/26/2021.04.23.441024.full
AB  - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs involved in post-transcriptional gene regulation that have a major impact on many diseases and provides an exciting avenue towards antiviral therapeutics. From patient transcriptomic data, we have discovered a circulating miRNA, miR-2392, that is directly involved with SARS-CoV-2 machinery during host infection. Specifically, we found that miR-2392 was key in driving downstream suppression of mitochondrial gene expression, increasing inflammation, glycolysis, and hypoxia as well as promoting many symptoms associated with COVID-19 infection. We demonstrate miR-2392 is present in the blood and urine of COVID-19 patients tested, but not detected in COVID-19 negative patients. These findings indicate the potential for developing a novel, minimally invasive, COVID-19 detection method. Lastly, using both in vitro human and in vivo hamster models, we have developed a novel miRNA-based antiviral therapeutic targeting miR-2392 that significantly reduces SARS-CoV-2 viability and may potentially inhibit a COVID-19 disease state in the host.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.