TY - JOUR
T1 - Contributing factors common to COVID-19 and gastrointestinal cancer
AU - Kostoff, Ronald Neil
AU - Briggs, Michael Brandon
AU - Kanduc, Darja
AU - Shores, Darla Roye
AU - Kovatsi, Leda
AU - Drakoulis, Nikolaos
AU - Porter, Alan Leslie
AU - Tsatsakis, Aristidis
AU - Spandidos, Demetrios A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Spandidos Publications. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - The devastating complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) result from the dysfunctional immune response of an individual following the initial severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Multiple toxic stressors and behaviors contribute to underlying immune system dysfunction. SARS-CoV-2 exploits the dysfunctional immune system to trigger a chain of events, ultimately leading to COVID-19. The authors have previously identified a number of contributing factors (CFs) common to myriad chronic diseases. Based on these observations, it was hypothesizedthattheremaybeasignificantoverlapbetweenCFs associated with COVID-19 and gastrointestinal cancer (GIC). Thus, in the present study, a streamlined dot-product approach wasusedinitiallytoidentifypotentialCFsthataffectCOVID-19 and GIC directly (i.e., the simultaneous occurrence of CFs and disease in the same article). The nascent character of the COVID-19 core literature (~1-year-old) did not allow sufficient time for the direct effects of numerous CFs on COVID-19 to emerge from laboratory experiments and epidemiological studies. Therefore, a literature-related discovery approach was used to augment the COVID-19 core literature-based ‘direct impact’ CFs with discovery-based ‘indirect impact’ CFs [CFs were identified in the non-COVID-19 biomedical literature that had the same biomarker impact pattern (e.g., hyperinflam- mation, hypercoagulation, hypoxia, etc.) as was shown in the COVID-19 literature]. Approximately 2,250 candidate direct impact CFs in common between GIC and COVID-19 were identified, albeit some being variants of the same concept. As commonality proof of concept, 75 potential CFs that appeared promising were selected, and 63 overlapping COVID-19/GIC potential/candidate CFs were validated with biological plau- sibility. In total, 42 of the 63 were overlapping direct impact COVID-19/GIC CFs, and the remaining 21 were candidate GIC CFs that overlapped with indirect impact COVID-19 CFs. On the whole, the present study demonstrates that COVID-19 and GIC share a number of common risk/CFs, including behaviors and toxic exposures, that impair immune function. A key component of immune system health is the removal of those factors that contribute to immune system dysfunction in the first place. This requires a paradigm shift from traditional Western medicine, which often focuses on treatment, rather than prevention.
AB - The devastating complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) result from the dysfunctional immune response of an individual following the initial severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Multiple toxic stressors and behaviors contribute to underlying immune system dysfunction. SARS-CoV-2 exploits the dysfunctional immune system to trigger a chain of events, ultimately leading to COVID-19. The authors have previously identified a number of contributing factors (CFs) common to myriad chronic diseases. Based on these observations, it was hypothesizedthattheremaybeasignificantoverlapbetweenCFs associated with COVID-19 and gastrointestinal cancer (GIC). Thus, in the present study, a streamlined dot-product approach wasusedinitiallytoidentifypotentialCFsthataffectCOVID-19 and GIC directly (i.e., the simultaneous occurrence of CFs and disease in the same article). The nascent character of the COVID-19 core literature (~1-year-old) did not allow sufficient time for the direct effects of numerous CFs on COVID-19 to emerge from laboratory experiments and epidemiological studies. Therefore, a literature-related discovery approach was used to augment the COVID-19 core literature-based ‘direct impact’ CFs with discovery-based ‘indirect impact’ CFs [CFs were identified in the non-COVID-19 biomedical literature that had the same biomarker impact pattern (e.g., hyperinflam- mation, hypercoagulation, hypoxia, etc.) as was shown in the COVID-19 literature]. Approximately 2,250 candidate direct impact CFs in common between GIC and COVID-19 were identified, albeit some being variants of the same concept. As commonality proof of concept, 75 potential CFs that appeared promising were selected, and 63 overlapping COVID-19/GIC potential/candidate CFs were validated with biological plau- sibility. In total, 42 of the 63 were overlapping direct impact COVID-19/GIC CFs, and the remaining 21 were candidate GIC CFs that overlapped with indirect impact COVID-19 CFs. On the whole, the present study demonstrates that COVID-19 and GIC share a number of common risk/CFs, including behaviors and toxic exposures, that impair immune function. A key component of immune system health is the removal of those factors that contribute to immune system dysfunction in the first place. This requires a paradigm shift from traditional Western medicine, which often focuses on treatment, rather than prevention.
KW - Colon cancer
KW - Contributing factors
KW - Coronavirus disease 2019
KW - Esophageal cancer
KW - Gastrointestinal cancer
KW - Immune system dysfunction
KW - Literature-related discovery
KW - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
KW - Stomach cancer
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119965220&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85119965220&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3892/or.2021.8227
DO - 10.3892/or.2021.8227
M3 - Article
C2 - 34779496
AN - SCOPUS:85119965220
SN - 1021-335X
VL - 47
JO - Oncology reports
JF - Oncology reports
IS - 1
M1 - 16
ER -