Fig. 1
From: The intersection of COVID-19 and cancer: signaling pathways and treatment implications
Crosstalk between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and cancer. Patients with cancer are highly vulnerable to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The susceptibility of patients with cancer to COVID-19 is influenced by cancer type, staging, and therapeutics. Patients with cancer who develop COVID-19 have a high risk of death. The main causes of death include adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pulmonary embolism, septic shock, and acute myocardial infarction. Other risk factors such as gender, age, ethnicity, comorbidities, obesity, smoking, and various medical conditions have been reported to have an impact on the mortality rates of patients with COVID-19. Four major signaling pathways are common to both diseases, namely cytokine, type I interferon (IFN-I), androgen receptor (AR), and immune checkpoint signaling