Expression analysis of lncRNA Morrbid and NeST lncRNA in patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 and their clinical signs

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), remains a major global health challenge because of its heterogeneous clinical manifestations and the need for reliable molecular markers to better understand disease pathogenesis. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as important regulators of gene expression and immune responses, participating in both innate and adaptive immunity during viral infections. Among them, the immune-related lncRNAs Morrbid and NeST have been implicated in the regulation of immune cell survival and interferon-mediated antiviral responses, suggesting their potential involvement in COVID-19. In the present study, we investigated the expression levels of Morrbid and NeST in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) obtained from COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. Total RNA was extracted, complementary DNA (cDNA) was synthesized, and gene expression was quantified using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Compared with healthy controls, COVID-19 patients exhibited significantly higher expression of Morrbid (median = 34.693 vs. 15.590; p  = 0.008) and NeST (median = 252.172 vs. 92.272; p  = 0.046). These findings demonstrate that both lncRNAs are significantly upregulated in PBMCs of COVID-19 patients and suggest that they may represent candidate biomarkers associated with the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, given the observed variability in gene expression, larger independent cohorts together with complementary functional and molecular validation studies are required to confirm their biological and potential diagnostic significance.