evaluation of integrated sars-cov-2 genome presence in pbmc, oropharyngeal, and nasopharyngeal samples of covid-19 patients

Background: persistent detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2) rna in individuals who have recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) remains an unexplained phenomenon warranting further study. recent research suggests that this rna could be the result of transcription from an integrated sars-cov-2 genome. objectives: this study aimed to investigate the presence of the dna form of the sars-cov-2 genome in oropharyngeal, nasopharyngeal, and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (pbmc) samples from covid-19 patients with prolonged viral detection. methods: we examined the presence of the reverse-transcribed viral genome in samples from eighty covid-19 patients, including 40 outpatients (group 1), 40 hospitalized patients (group 2), and 40 healthy individuals (group 3), using a taqman® based real-time rt-pcr assay. results: the mean ages of groups 1, 2, and 3 were 36.1 ± 11.0, 61.6 ± 18.4, and 39.0 ± 8.7, respectively. the molecular tests did not detect viral dna forms, which may be produced during the sars-cov-2 life cycle, in the examined samples. conclusions: although no evidence of integrated viral dna was found in this study, further research is essential to confirm these findings and explore the underlying mechanisms of prolonged sars-cov-2 rna presence in recovered covid-19 patients.