Can COVID-19 induce glioma tumorogenesis through binding cell receptors?
#MMPMID32758869
Khan I
; Hatiboglu MA
Med Hypotheses
2020[Nov]; 144
(?): 110009
PMID32758869
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The outbreak of Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) represents a global threat to
the public healthcare. The viral spike (S) glycoprotein is the key molecule for
viral entry through interaction with angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)
receptor molecules present on the cell membranes. Moreover, it has been
established that COVID-19 interacts and infects brain cells in humans via ACE2.
Therefore in the light of these known facts we hypothesized that viral S protein
molecule may bind to the other overexpressed receptor molecules in glioma cells
and may play some role in glioma tumorogenesis. Thus we leverage docking analysis
(HEX and Z-DOCK) between viral S protein and epidermal growth factor receptors
(EGFR), vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFR) and hepatocyte
growth factor receptors (HGFR/c-MET) to investigate the oncogenic potential of
COVID-19. Our findings suggested higher affinity of Viral S protein towards EGFR
and VEGFR. Although, the data presented is preliminary and need to be validated
further via molecular dynamics studies, however it paves platform to instigate
further investigations on this aspect considering the aftermath of COVID-19
pandemic in oncogenic perspective.
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