AUTHOR=Katanski Christopher D. , Alshammary Hala , Watkins Christopher P. , Huang Sihao , Gonzales-Reiche Ana , Sordillo Emilia Mia , van Bakel Harm , Mount Sinai PSP study group , Lolans Karen , Simon Viviana , Pan Tao , Fabre Shelcie , Polanco Jose , Hernandez Matthew M. , Paniz-Mondolfi Alberto TITLE=tRNA abundance, modification and fragmentation in nasopharyngeal swabs as biomarkers for COVID-19 severity JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology VOLUME=10 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2022.999351 DOI=10.3389/fcell.2022.999351 ISSN=2296-634X ABSTRACT=

Emerging and re-emerging respiratory viruses can spread rapidly and cause pandemics as demonstrated by the recent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. The early human immune responses to respiratory viruses are in the nasal cavity and nasopharyngeal regions. Defining biomarkers of disease trajectory at the time of a positive diagnostic test would be an important tool to facilitate decisions such as initiation of antiviral treatment. We hypothesize that nasopharyngeal tRNA profiles could be used to predict Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) severity. We carried out multiplex small RNA sequencing (MSR-seq) on residual nasopharyngeal swabs to measure simultaneously full-length tRNA abundance, tRNA modifications, and tRNA fragmentation for the human tRNA response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. We identified distinct tRNA signatures associated with mild symptoms versus severe COVID-19 manifestations requiring hospitalization. These results highlight the utility of host tRNA properties as biomarkers for the clinical outcome of SARS-CoV-2.