Contributing factors common to COVID‑19 and gastrointestinal cancer

Abstract

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 hypothesized that there may be a significant overlap between CFs associated with COVID‑19 and gastrointestinal cancer (GIC). Thus, in the present study, a streamlined dot‑product approach was used initially to identify potential CFs that affect COVID‑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., hyperinflammation, 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 plausibility. 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.

Keywords: colon cancer; contributing factors; coronavirus disease 2019; esophageal cancer; gastrointestinal cancer; immune system dysfunction; literature‑related discovery; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; stomach cancer.

Figure 1.

Iron overload alters the immune system by promoting TNF-α secretion (35,36), induces oxidative stress by generating the powerful hydroxyl radical (37), and promotes the replication and virulence of gut pathogen microbiome (38).

Figure 2.

Schematic diagram of the study protocol and approach used to identify the contributing factors common to gastrointestinal cancer (GIC) and COVID-19 (COV-19).