SARS-CoV-2 infection and lung cancer : potential therapeutic modalities

Gupta, I; Rizeq, B; Elkord, E; Vranic, S; Al Moustafa, A-E

Abstract

Human coronaviruses, especially SARS-CoV-2, are emerging pandemic infectious diseases with high morbidity and mortality in certain group of patients. In general, SARS-CoV-2 causes symptoms ranging from the common cold to severe conditions accompanied by lung injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome in addition to other organs’ destruction. The main impact upon SARS-CoV-2 infection is damage to alveolar and acute respiratory failure. Thus, lung cancer patients are identified as a particularly high-risk group for SARS-CoV-2 infection and its complications. On the other hand, it has been reported that SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein binds to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2), that promotes cellular entry of this virus in concert with host proteases, principally transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2). Today, there are no vaccines and/or effective drugs against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Thus, manipulation of key entry genes of this virus especially in lung cancer patients could be one of the best approaches to manage SARS-CoV-2 infection in this group of patients. We herein provide a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the role of ACE-2 and TMPRSS2 genes, as key entry elements as well as therapeutic targets for SARS-CoV-2 infection, which can help to better understand the applications and capacities of various remedial approaches for infected individuals, especially those with lung cancer.

Citation

Gupta, I., Rizeq, B., Elkord, E., Vranic, S., & Al Moustafa, A. (2020). SARS-CoV-2 infection and lung cancer : potential therapeutic modalities. Cancers, 12(8), e2186. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12082186

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 15, 2020
• Publication Date: Aug 5, 2020
• Deposit Date: Aug 11, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 11, 2020
• Journal: Cancers
• Publisher: MDPI
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 8
• Pages: e2186
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12082186
• Keywords: COVID-19, Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, lung cancer, ACE-2, TMPRSS2, inhibitors
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12082186
• Related Public URLs: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers
• Additional Information: Additional Information : ** From MDPI via Jisc Publications Router ** Licence for this article: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ **Journal IDs: eissn 2072-6694 **History: published 05-08-2020; accepted 15-07-2020; Funders : Qatar University; Grant Number: QUHI-CMED-19/20-1, QUCG-CMED-20/21-2, GCC-2017-002 QU/KU and QUCG-CMED-20/21-2