Transcriptomic analysis revealed increased expression of genes involved in keratinization in the tears of COVID-19 patients

Purpose: Recent studies have focused their attention on conjunctivitis as one of the symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Therefore, tear samples were taken from COVID-19 patients and the presence of SARS-CoV-2 was evidenced using Real Time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Methods: The main aim of this study was to analyze mRNA expression in the tears of patients with COVID-19 viral infection compared with healthy subjects using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). Results: The functional evaluation of the transcriptome highlighted 25 genes that differ statistically between healthy individuals and patients affected by COVID-19 disease. In particular, the NGS analysis identified the presence of several genes involved in B cell signaling and keratinization. In particular, the genes involved in B cell signaling were downregulated in the tears of COVID-19 patients, while those involved in keratinization were upregulated. Conclusions: The results indicated that COVID-19 may induce a process of ocular keratinization and a defective B cell response. Overall design: Tears mRNA profiles of patients suffering from COVID and healthy individuals