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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.04.25.061200

Elevated expression of ACE2 in tumor-adjacent normal tissues of cancer patients

Winkler, T.·Ben-David, U.
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Abstract

The rapidly developing COVID-19 pandemic has raised a concern that cancer patients may have increased susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. This discussion has mostly focused on therapy-induced immune suppression. Here, we examined the expression patterns of ACE2, the receptor through which SARX-CoV2 enters human cells, and found that ACE2 mRNA levels are elevated in tumor-adjacent normal tissues of cancer patients, including in normal-adjacent lung tissues of lung cancer patients. These observations raise the possibility that the elevated COVID-19 risk of cancer patients may not be limited to those undergoing immune-suppressing treatment.

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Winkler, T., Ben-David, U.. 2020-04-25. Elevated expression of ACE2 in tumor-adjacent normal tissues of cancer patients. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.25.061200

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