Hypoxia, HIF-1α, and COVID-19: from pathogenic factors to potential therapeutic targets.

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its pathogen, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have become the greatest current threat to global public health. The highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus primarily attacks pulmonary tissues and impairs gas exchange leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and systemic hypoxia. The current pharmacotherapies for COVID-19 largely rely on supportive and anti-thrombi treatment and the repurposing of antimalarial and antiviral drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir.

MicroRNA-15a tissue expression is a prognostic marker for survival in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

None of the currently investigated molecular markers demonstrated sufficient accuracy in prognostication of the renal cell carcinoma (RCC) oncologic outcomes; thus, none of them has been recommended for the application in the routine clinical practice. The role of miR-15a as a potential prognostic marker for RCC is still not unveiled. The aim of our study was to assess the expression of miR-15a in tumor tissues of the patients with RCC and to evaluate the possibility of its usage as a prognostic molecular biomarker of this disease.

Altered biogenesis of microRNA-1 is associated with cardiac dysfunction in aging of spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Currently we face the issues of aging-associated pathologies, particularly those leading to heart failure. With that in mind, in current research we focus on aging and hypertension combination as a widely spread threating problem. In a row with functional and morphological characterization of these aging- and hypertension-associated cardiac changes, we evaluate biogenesis of microRNA-1 being one of major microRNAs in the heart.