Opinion Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Dec 6, 2021; 9(34): 10392-10399
Published online Dec 6, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i34.10392
Regulating monocyte infiltration and differentiation: Providing new therapies for colorectal cancer patients with COVID-19
Ling Bai, Wang Yang, Lei Qian, Jiu-Wei Cui
Ling Bai, Wang Yang, Lei Qian, Jiu-Wei Cui, Cancer Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China
Author contributions: Bai L and Yang W contributed equally to this work; Bai L and Yang W carried out the primary literature search, processed the data, drafted and revised the manuscript, and participated in discussions; Qian L carried out the primary literature search, revised the manuscript, and participated in discussions; Cui JW designed the research, performed literature analysis, drafted and revised the manuscript, and participated in discussions; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of New Coronary Pneumonia and Other Infectious Diseases Prevention Basic Research Orientation Project of China, No. 2020YFA0707704 (to Qian L); the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China, No. 2016YFC1303800 (to Cui JW); the Interdisciplinary Research Funding Program of Jilin University, No. 101832020DJX083 (to Bai L); and the Outstanding Talent Cultivation Program for Doctoral Students in Norman Bethune Health Science Center of Jilin University (to Bai L).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jiu-Wei Cui, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Cancer Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, No. 71 Xinmin Street, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China. cuijw@jlu.edu.cn
Received: February 1, 2021
Peer-review started: February 1, 2021
First decision: March 29, 2021
Revised: March 10, 2021
Accepted: August 4, 2021
Article in press: August 4, 2021
Published online: December 6, 2021
Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a significant challenge for clinicians, especially for immunocompromised cancer patients. By analyzing the impact of COVID-19 on the immune microenvironment of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients at the tissue level and single-cell level, we found that CRC patients are more easily infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), but promotion of infiltration and differentiation of monocytes makes them more likely to develop severe COVID-19. Because of the continuing activation of nuclear factor (NF)-κB and C-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5) signaling pathways in monocytes, imbalance of macrophage polarization can aggravate the cytokine release syndrome. Therefore, regulating the infiltration and differentiation of monocytes is helpful for the treatment of COVID-19 in CRC patients.

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Monocyte, Macrophage, Colorectal cancer

Core Tip: Not only are colorectal cancer (CRC) patients susceptible to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) but their infiltrating monocytes are also affected by SARS-CoV-2. Promotion of infiltration and differentiation of monocytes after infection CRC patients are more likely to develop severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In severe COVID-19, because of activation of the nuclear factor (NF)-κB and C-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5) signaling pathways, the imbalance of macrophage polarization can cause further aggravation of the cytokine release syndrome.