High Expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 at the Resection Margin Makes Lung Cancer Survivors Susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 With Unfavorable Prognosis

作者：Wang, Qianqian; Li, Liangyu; Qu, Tianyu; Li, Jie; Wu, Lingxiang; Li, Kening; Wang, Ziyu; Zhu, Mengyan; Huang, Bin; Wu, Wei; Wu, Min; Ding, Rong; Zhang, Zhihong; Wang, Qianghu; Xia, Xinyi^*; Li, Pengping^*; Zhang, Zhi; Guo, Renhua^*

来源：Frontiers in Oncology, 2021, 11: 644575.

DOI：10.3389/fonc.2021.644575

• COVID-19
• lung cancer
• ACE2
• single cell
• tmprss2

Background @@@ Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread worldwide. Systematic analysis of lung cancer survivors at molecular and clinical levels is warranted to understand the disease course and clinical characteristics. @@@ Methods @@@ A single-center, retrospective cohort study was conducted in 65 patients with COVID-19 from Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital, of which 13 patients were diagnosed with lung cancer. The study was conducted from February 4 to April 11, 2020. @@@ Results @@@ During the course of treatment, lung cancer survivors infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) had shorter median time from symptom onset to hospitalization (P = 0.016) and longer clinical symptom remission time (P = 0.020) than non-cancer individuals. No differences were observed among indicators such as time from symptom onset to hospitalization and symptom remission time between medium-term and short-term survivors. The expression of ACE2 (P = 0.013) and TMPRSS2 (P <0.001) was elevated in lung cancer survivors as compared with that in non-cancer individuals. @@@ Conclusions @@@ ACE2 and TMPRSS2 levels were higher at resection margins of lung cancer survivors than those in normal tissues of non-cancerous individuals and may serve as factors responsible for the high susceptibility to COVID-19 among lung cancer survivors. Lung cancer patients diagnosed with COVID-19, including medium-term survivors, have worse outcomes than the general population.

• 单位
  南京大学; 南方医科大学; 1