SARS-COV-2 ORF9b Dysregulate Fibrinogen and Albumin Genes in a Liver Cell Line

Overview

Journal Rep Biochem Mol Biol

Specialty Biochemistry

Date 2024 Nov 25

PMID 39582820

Authors

Shirin Jalili

Seyed Mohammad Ali Hashemi

Jamal Sarvari

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Individuals experiencing severe cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) exhibited elevated fibrinogen levels and decreased albumin levels, potentially linked to the presence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) proteins. Consequently, our study endeavors to examine the impact of SARS-CoV-2 ORF9b on the expression of fibrinogen and albumin genes within the Hep-G2 cell line.

Methods: In this study, the Hep-G2 liver cell line was utilized alongside the plasmid pcDNA3.1 hyg+ containing ORF9b from the SARS-CoV-2 strain originating in Wuhan. Transfection procedures were executed, and the transfected cells were selected utilizing hygromycin B. Validation of ORF9b expression was conducted through SYBR green-based real-time PCR, and the expression of the Fibrinogen α (FGA), Fibrinogen β (FGB), Fibrinogen γ (FGG), and Albumin (ALB) genes was quantified using the same method.

Results: The real-time PCR analysis revealed a significant upregulation of fibrinogen genes-α (P=0.03), β (P=0.02), and γ (P=0.029) in Hep-G2 cells containing ORF9b compared to control cells. Furthermore, the findings indicated a markedly lower expression level of albumin in Hep-G2 cells harboring ORF9b compared to the control cells (P=0.028).

Conclusions: The findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 ORF9b could potentially influence the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection by triggering the expression of α, β, and γ fibrinogen gene chains while suppressing the albumin gene. Further investigations are warranted to validate these observations across various SARS-CoV-2 strains exhibiting differing levels of pathogenicity.

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