ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of COVID-19 infection on pancreatic cancer . Methods Based on the mRNA-Seq data of COVID-19 patients and pancreatic cancer (PC) patients in the GEO database, we used support vector machine (SVM), LASSO-Cox regression analysis and random forest tree (RF) to screen the common signature genes of the two diseases and further investigate their effects and functional characteristics on PC, respectively. And the above procedures were performed in R software. Results The proteins COL10A1/FAP/FN1 were found to be common signature genes for COVID-19 and PC, were significantly up-regulated in both diseases, and showed good diagnostic efficacy for PC. The risk model based on COL10A1/FAP/FN1 showed good PC risk prediction ability and clinical application potential. Tumor typing based on COL10A1/FAP/FN1 expression levels effectively classified PC into different subtypes, and showed significant differences between the two subtypes in terms of survival prognosis, immune levels, immune checkpoint expression levels, mutation status of common tumor mutation sites, and drug sensitivity analysis. While pathway analysis also revealed that FN1 as an extracellular matrix component may be involved in the biological process of PC by regulating the PI3K-AKT signaling axis. Conclusion The upregulated expression of COL10A1/FAP/FN1, the characteristic genes of COVID-19, are potential diagnostic targets for PC, and the upregulated expression of FN1 may promotes the progression of PC by activating the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. The COL10A1/FAP/FN1-based typing provides a new typing approach for PC, also provides a good reference and idea for the refinement of PC treatment and subsequent clinical research.
Subject(s)
Neoplasms , Pancreatic Neoplasms , COVID-19ABSTRACT
Background: Households appear to be the highest risk setting for transmission of COVID-19. Large household transmission studies were reported in the early stages of the pandemic in Asia with secondary attack rates ranging from 5-30% but few large scale household transmission studies have been conducted outside of Asia. Methods: A prospective case ascertained study design based on the World Health Organization FFX protocol was undertaken in the UK following the detection of the first case in late January 2020. Household contacts of cases were followed using enhanced surveillance forms to establish whether they developed symptoms of COVID-19, became confirmed cases and their outcomes. Household secondary attack rates and serial intervals were estimated. Individual and household basic reproduction numbers were also estimated. The incubation period was estimated using known point source exposures that resulted in secondary cases. Results: A total of 233 households with two or more people were included with a total of 472 contacts. The overall household SAR was 37% (95% CI 31-43%) with a mean serial interval of 4.67 days, an R0 of 1.85 and a household reproduction number of 2.33. We find lower secondary attack rates in larger households. SARs were highest when the primary case was a child. We estimate a mean incubation period of around 4.5 days. Conclusions: High rates of household transmission of COVID-19 were found in the UK emphasising the need for preventative measures in this setting. Careful monitoring of schools reopening is needed to monitor transmission from children.
Subject(s)
COVID-19ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is reported to have been effectively brought under control in China at its initial start place. To understand the COVID-19 outbreak in China and provide potential lessons for other parts of the world, in this study we combine a mathematical modelling with multiple datasets to estimate its transmissibility and severity and how it was affected by the unprecedented control measures. Our analyses show that before 29th January 2020, the ascertainment rate is 6.9%(95%CI: 3.5 - 14.6%); then it increased to 41.5%(95%CI: 30.6 - 65.1%). The basic reproduction number (R0) was 2.23(95%CI: 1.86 - 3.22) before 8th February 2020; then it dropped to 0.04(95%CI: 0.01 - 0.10). This estimation also indicates that the effect on transmissibility of control measures taken since 23rd January 2020 emerged about two weeks late. The confirmed case fatality rate is estimated at 4.41%(95%CI: 3.65 - 5.30%). This shows that SARS-CoV-2 virus is highly transmissible but less severe than SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV. We found that at the early stage, the majority of R0 comes from the undetected infected people. This implies that the successful control in China was achieved through decreasing the contact rates among people in general populations and increasing the rate of detection and quarantine of the infected cases.