Chauhan Anshika, Ghoshal Sushmita, Pal Arnab
Department of Biochemistry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Department of Radiotherapy, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Med Hypotheses. 2020 Nov;144:109987. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2020.109987. Epub 2020 Jun 9.
In 2019, a new coronavirus (SARS CoV2) infecting humans has emerged in Wuhan, China which caused an unprecedented pandemic involving at least 185 countries infecting 2.5 million people till date. This virus is transmitted directly or indirectly through the upper aerodigestive tract. As it is evident from the recent studies that SARS-CoV-2 requires host enzyme Furin to activate receptor binding domain of its S protein and host Angiotensin Convertase Enzyme 2 (ACE2) is required as binding receptor, facilitating the entry of virus into the host cell. Evidence from literature shows that oral cancer tissues as well as paracarcinoma tissue exhibit higher expression of both Furin and ACE2, giving rise to the hypothesis that patients with oral cancer have higher chances of SARS CoV2 infection. It is also hypothesised that there will be increased severity of disease due to facilitated entry of the virus into the cells. Therefore, we suggest oral cancer patients require extra attention during COVID-19 pandemic and re-evaluation of current treatment paradigms in oral oncology is also needed.
2019年，一种感染人类的新型冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）在中国武汉出现，引发了一场前所未有的大流行，至今已涉及至少185个国家，感染人数达250万。这种病毒通过上呼吸道和消化道直接或间接传播。近期研究表明，SARS-CoV-2需要宿主蛋白酶弗林蛋白酶来激活其S蛋白的受体结合域，并且需要宿主血管紧张素转换酶2（ACE2）作为结合受体，以促进病毒进入宿主细胞。文献证据显示，口腔癌组织以及癌旁组织中弗林蛋白酶和ACE2的表达均较高，由此产生了一种假说，即口腔癌患者感染SARS-CoV-2的几率更高。还有假说认为，由于病毒更容易进入细胞，疾病的严重程度将会增加。因此，我们建议在新冠疫情期间，口腔癌患者需要格外关注，同时口腔肿瘤学当前的治疗模式也需要重新评估。
