en میکروب شناسی Microbiology مقالات اصلی Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="tab-stops:396.55pt"><b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Background:</span></span></span></span></i></b><b><i> </i></b><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">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.</span></span></span></span><br> <b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt"></span></span></b></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="tab-stops:396.55pt"><b><i><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Methods:</span></span></span></span></i></b><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt"> 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 &alpha; (FGA), Fibrinogen &beta; (FGB), Fibrinogen &gamma; (FGG), and Albumin (ALB) genes was quantified using the same method.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <br> <span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="tab-stops:396.55pt"><b><i><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Results:</span></span></span></span></i></b><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt"> The real-time PCR analysis revealed a significant upregulation of fibrinogen genes&mdash;&alpha; (P=0.03), &beta; (P=0.02), and &gamma; (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).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <br> <span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="tab-stops:396.55pt"><b><i><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Conclusion:</span></span></span></span></i></b><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt"> The findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 ORF9b could potentially influence the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection by triggering the expression of &alpha;, &beta;, and &gamma; 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.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div> Fibrinogen, ORF-9b protein, SARS-CoV-2, Serum Albumin. 51 58 http://rbmb.net/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1480-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Shirin Jalili S.jalili@modares.ac.ir 100319475328460020295 100319475328460020295 Yes Institute of police equipment and technologies, policing sciences and social studies research institute, Tehran, Iran. Seyed Mohammad Ali Hashemi 100319475328460020296 100319475328460020296 No Department of Bacteriology and Virology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Jamal Sarvari* savarij@sums.ac.ir 100319475328460020297 100319475328460020297 No Department of Bacteriology and Virology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran & Gastroenterohepatology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.