Systematic levels of IL-29 and microRNA185-5p were not associated with severe COVID-19 in the Iranian population

BACKGROUND: Increased systematic pro-inflammatory cytokines is the main cause of the inflammatory conditions of the hospitalized severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infected patients. In this project, serum levels of IL-29 and whole blood levels of microRNA-185-5p (miR-185-5p) were evaluated in the hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. METHODS: This project was performed on the 60 hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 infected patients and 60 healthy controls to evaluate IL-29 and miR185-5p expression levels. IL-29 expression was explored using enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA), while miR185-5p was evaluated using Real-Time PCR techniques. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that neither IL-29 serum levels nor relative expressions of miR-185-5p were significantly different between patients and healthy controls. CONCLUSION: Due to the results that are presented here, systematic levels of IL-29 and miR-185-5p cannot be considered as the main risk factors for induction of inflammation in the hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12985-023-02046-7.