SARS-COV-2 infection and lung tumor microenvironment

Malkani, Naila; Rashid, Muhammad Usman

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory syndrome, reported at the end of 2019 in China originally and immediately spread affecting over ten million world population to date. This pandemic is more lethal for the older population and those who previously suffered from other ailments such as cardiovascular diseases, respiratory disorders, and other immune system affecting abnormalities including cancers. Lung cancer is an important comorbidity of COVID-19. In this review, we emphasized the impact of lung tumor microenvironment (TME) on the possibility of enhanced severity of infection caused by the SARS-Co-V2. The compromised lung TME is further susceptible to the attack of viruses. The lung cells are also abundant in the virus entry receptors. Several SARS-Co-V2 proteins can modulate the lung TME by disrupting the fragile immune mechanisms contributing to cytokine storming and cellular metabolic variations. We also discussed the impact of medication used for lung cancer in the scenario of this infection. Since other respiratory infections can be a risk factor for lung cancer, COVID-19 recovered patients should be monitored for tumor development, especially if there is genetic susceptibility or it involves exposure to other risk factors.