Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Carrying miRNA as a Potential Multi Target Therapy to COVID-19: an In Silico Analysis

In the end of 2019 COVID-19 emerged as a new threat worldwide and this disease present impaired immune system, exacerbated production of inflammatory cytokines, and coagulation disturbs. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a therapeutic option due to its intrinsic properties to alleviate inflammatory responses, capable to promote the restoring of injured tissue. EVs contain heterogeneous cargo, including active microRNAs, small noncoding sequences involved in post-transcriptional gene repression or degradation and can attach in multiple targets. This study investigated whether the MSC-EVs miRNA cargo has the capacity to modulate the exacerbated cytokines, cell death and coagulation disturbs present in severe COVID-19. Through bioinformatics analysis, four datasets of miRNA, using different stem cell tissue sources (bone marrow, umbilical cord and adipose tissue), and one dataset of mRNA (bone marrow) were analyzed. 58 miRNAs overlap in the four miRNA datasets analyzed. Sequentially, those miRNAs present in at least two datasets, were analyzed using miRWalk for the 3'UTR binding target mRNA. The result predicted 258 miRNAs for exacerbated cytokines and chemokines, 266 miRNAs for cell death genes and 148 miRNAs for coagulation cascades. Some miRNAs may simultaneously attenuate inflammatory agents, inhibit cell death genes and key factors of coagulation cascade, consequently preventing tissue damage and coagulation disturbs. Therefore, the MSC-derived EVs due to their heterogeneous cargo are a potential multitarget approach able to improve the survival rates of severe COVID-19 patients.

Automated summary

The study suggests that MSC-derived EVs may have the potential to modulate exacerbated cytokines, cell death, and coagulation disturbances in severe COVID-19, thereby preventing tissue damage.