COVID-19 patients’ sera induce epithelial mesenchymal transition in cancer cells

• Published in: Cancer treatment and research communications 2021, Vol.28, p.100406-100406, Article 100406
• Main Authors: Saygideger, Yasemin, Sezan, Aycan, Candevir, Aslihan, Saygıdeğer Demir, Burcu, Güzel, Efraim, Baydar, Oya, Derinoz, Ezgi, Komur, Suheyla, Kuscu, Ferit, Ozyılmaz, Ezgi, Kuleci, Sedat, Hanta, Ismail, Akkız, Hikmet, Tasova, Yesim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Cancer; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Movement; Cell Proliferation; Covid-19; COVID-19 - complications; COVID-19 - immunology; Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; EMT; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition - physiology; Female; Humans; Immune Sera - adverse effects; Immune Sera - toxicity; Inflammation; Lung Neoplasms - secondary; Lung Neoplasms - virology; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasms - immunology; Neoplasms - pathology; SARS-CoV-2; ZEB1, SNAIL2
• ISSN: 2468-2942; 2468-2942
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ctarc.2021.100406

•Cancer patients are more susceptible to Covid-19 pneumonia complications and death.•Cytokines and other cellular components scattered from fragmented cells increase in patients’ serums.•Serum samples of Covid-19 patients increase the motility of cancer cells.•Cancer cells express epithelial to mesenchymal transition driver genes within the 4th hour.•Cancer cells lose their intercellular junctions in 48 h.•Patients show increased lung metastasis in 6th months after having SARS-CoV-2 infection. Covid-19 Pneumonia of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic infection, persists to have high disease burden especially in cancer patients. Increased inflammation and thromboembolic processes are blamed to influence cancer patients more than the others but due to lack of knowledge regarding the pathophysiology of the both the virus itself and the response of the host, more basic and translational disease modeling research is needed to understand Cancer-Covid-19 interaction. In this study, serum samples from the patients, who were hospitalized due to Covid-19 pneumonia, applied to different cancer cells and cytotoxicity, motility, proliferation and gene expression analysis were performed. Serum samples derived from healthy volunteers and the fetal bovine serum that is used regularly in cell culture experiments used as controls. Hospitalized Covid-19 patients who had also cancer, were retrospectively screened, and their clinical course were recorded. Overall 12 Patient (PS) and 4 healthy serums (CS) were included in the experiments. PS applied cells showed increased motility in A549 cells as well as lost cell to cell connection in MCF7 and HCT116 cells, and induced expression of VIM, ZEB1 and SNAIL2 mRNA levels. Eight cancer diagnosed patients who were hospitalized due to Covid-19 between April and September 2020 were also reviewed retrospectively, which 5 of them were dead during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Thorax CT images of the 2 patients showed increased metastatic nodules in the lungs as of January 2021. The results of the study indicate that metastasis may be one of the prolonged consequences of COVID-19 pandemic in cancer sufferers.