ABSTRACT
Background: 2019-nCoV, a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), has infected tens of thousands of people in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. This new coronavirus has led to hundreds of deaths, and especially threatened people with underlying diseases. ACE2 was reported as the 2019-nCoV putative receptor. The expression abundance of ACE2 may cause different disease progressions. Here, we evaluated the expression profile of ACE2from 283 samples in lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: 283 samples from the public datasets (GEO: GSE31210 and GEO: GSE2109) were grouped by tissue, ethnicity and gender. The data was normalized by the RMA algorithm. Student's t-test was usedto compare the expression of ACE2 in different groups. Results: The expression level of ACE2 of primary lung tumor was significantly higher than normal lung tissue (p < 0.0001). ACE2 was significantly differential-expressed between Asian and Caucasian lung adenocarcinoma patients (p < 0.0001). However, no significant difference of the expression of ACE2 was observed by gender (p = 0.33). Conclusions: ACE2 was highly expressed in primary lung adenocarcinoma, compared with normal lung tissues. The expression level of ACE2was higher in Asian lung adenocarcinomapatients than Caucasian's. These conclusions imply that Asian people with lung adenocarcinoma may be more vulnerable to 2019- nCoV.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 exposed the need to identify newer tools to understand perception of information, behavioral conformance to instructions and model the effects of individual motivation and decisions on the success of measures being put in place. We approach this challenge through the lens of serious games. Serious games are designed to instruct and inform within the confines of their magic circle. We built a multiplayer serious game, Point of Contact (PoC), to investigate effects of a serious game on perception and behavior. We conducted a study with 23 participants to gauge perceptions of COVID-19 preventive measures and quantify the change after playing PoC. The results show a significant positive change to participants' perceptions towards COVID-19 preventive measures, shifting perceptions towards following guidelines more strictly due to a greater awareness of how the virus spreads. We discuss these implications and the value of a serious game like PoC towards pandemic risk modelling at a microcosm level. © 2021 ACM.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: COVID-19, a disease caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has drawn public attention worldwide. The virus is also associated with carcinogenesis. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was reported to be related to pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (PLELC), a rare subtype of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the understanding of the treatment for EBV-infected NSCLC was still elusive. Immunotherapy that targets PD-1/PD-L1 has been utilized as a novel clinical treatment in recent years. Here, we focus on the genomic landscapes of lung cancers with EBV-infection and its correlation with PD-L1. Methods: Patients with both PD-L1 expression detection and genomic information were screened in HapLab database. HaploX 605-gene panel sequencing, covering 1.31 MB genome, was performed to analyze the genomic data of patients. PD-L1 expression was detected by immunochemistry. Bioinformatic analysis of genomic mutations and the correlation with the expression of PD-L1 were studied. Results: We analyzed the genomic profiles of 23 EBV-infected NSCLC patients. 11 cases of lung squamous-cell carcinoma (LUSC), 4 cases of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), 5 cases of lung pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (PLELC), and 3 unidentified cases were included in this study. Collectively, 93 genome mutations of 67 genes were detected in 23 EBV-infection cases. Top 3 frequently mutated genes were TP53 (27%), CSMD3 (18%) and KMT2D (18%). The EBV-infected patients exhibited a low level of tumor mutation burden (TMB). The median TMB was 1.53 Muts/MB (ranging from 0 to 14.5 Muts/MB). Only 3 of 23 patients (13.0%) harbored the canonical driver mutations in NSCLC. Interestingly, 10/23 patients (43.5%) showed high expression of PD-L1, while 13/23 patients (56.5%) showed low expression. We also assessed the expression of PD-L1 in lung cancers with no EBV-infection (867 cases). Only 118/867 (13.6%) patients without EBV-infection presented high PD-L1 expression, while 749/867 (86.4%) presented low PD-L1 expression. Conclusion: EBV-infection can occur in different kinds of NSCLC, including LUSC, LUAD, and PLELC. TMB and driver mutations of EBV-infected NSCLC were not frequently observed as normal lung cancers, implying a different mechanism leading to EBV-infected lung cancers. Interestingly, EBV-infected NSCLC tended to have a high correlation with the expression of PD-L1. This may give a hint on the application of checkpoint blockade immunotherapy on EBV-infected NSCLC. [Formula presented] Keywords: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), PD-L1 expression, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)