Intracellular peptides in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients

Luiz Felipe Martucci; Rosangela A S Eichler; Renée N O Silva; Tiago J Costa; Rita C Tostes; Geraldo F Busatto; Marilia C L Seelaender; Alberto J S Duarte; Heraldo P Souza; Emer S Ferro

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107542

Intracellular peptides in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients

iScience. 2023 Aug 6;26(9):107542. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107542. eCollection 2023 Sep 15.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacology, Biomedical Sciences Institute, São Paulo 05508-000, Brazil.
² Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirao Preto Medical School, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900, Brazil.
³ Department of Psichiatry, Medical School and Hospital das Clínicas, University of São Paulo, 01246-903 SP, Brazil.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Medical School and Hospital das Clínicas, University of São Paulo, 01246-903 SP, Brazil.
⁵ Department of Patology, Medical School and Hospital das Clínicas, University of São Paulo, 01246-903 SP, Brazil.
⁶ Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School and Hospital das Clínicas, University of São Paulo, 01246-903 SP, Brazil.

Abstract

Intracellular peptides (InPeps) generated by the orchestrated action of the proteasome and intracellular peptidases have biological and pharmacological significance. Here, human plasma relative concentration of specific InPeps was compared between 175 patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and 45 SARS-CoV-2 non-infected patients; 2,466 unique peptides were identified, of which 67% were InPeps. The results revealed differences of a specific group of peptides in human plasma comparing non-infected individuals to patients infected by SARS-CoV-2, following the results of the semi-quantitative analyses by isotope-labeled electrospray mass spectrometry. The protein-protein interactions networks enriched pathways, drawn by genes encoding the proteins from which the peptides originated, revealed the presence of the coronavirus disease/COVID-19 network solely in the group of patients fatally infected by SARS-CoV-2. Thus, modulation of the relative plasma levels of specific InPeps could be employed as a predictive tool for disease outcome.

Keywords: Microbiology; Public health; Virology.