–Biswadeep Sen, Amity University Kolkata
Lung Cancer is one of the most malignant tumors, making patients more susceptible to infections than normal individuals. Lung Cancer patients are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection at a significantly higher rate than healthy individuals. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, acting as the COVID receptor, and the Transmembrane protease serine 2 acting as the activator of the same are the participants in the Virus’s cell entry.
The COVID envelope houses the Envelope protein (E) which is significantly essential in the assembly and budding of the virus, the Spike protein (S) that comes into play by attaching onto the ACE2 Receptor.
The LCE tests showed that the ACE2 gene was expressed at a higher rate in the LUAD cancer tissue proving it’s the essence of the disease.
The increased expression levels of ACE2 are indicative of the fact that it is indeed responsible for the patient’s susceptibility to the Viral infection.
The gene expression analysis singled out TMPRSS2 as a cancer-suppressing gene in Lung Adenocarcinoma who’s downregulation can decrease the SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility for LUAD patients.
Source: Analysis of the susceptibility of lung cancer patients to SARS-CoV-2 infection, Kong Q., Xiang Z., Wu Y., et al., Molecular Cancer, 80 (2020).DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12943-020-01209-2
COVID-19, not just a pulmonary but also a cardiovascular disease!
–Camelia Bhattacharyya, Amity University Kolkata Our body is a natural and the most complicated machine and all of its parts are interrelated. Thus, any change in the environment of one part of the body is likely to cause other changes in most other parts. This theory also holds true when taking into account, the recent […]