BackgroundThe link between inflammation and cancer development was intensively studied in the last decade. To date, few studies explored the association between inflammatory genes and colorectal cancer (CRC) development.AimThe present study aimed to evaluate the implication of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs28362491 ins/del −94 ATTG in NFκB1, rs6920220 (G/A) in TNFAIP3, and rs419598 (C/T) in IL1RN, which play a role in inflammation regulation in CRC development.Methods and resultsA case‐control study was conducted on an Algerian cohort of 358 subjects (147 healthy people, 89 individuals affected by inflammatory bowel disease [IBD], and 122 CRC patients enrolled at the University Hospital Center Ben Badis of Constantine). SNPs genotyping was performed by allelic discrimination TaqMan assay. The rs28362491 ins/del heterozygous genotype in NFκB1 conferred an increased risk of IBD compared with ins/ins homozygous genotype, with an increase of twofold (OR = 2.34 [1.29‐4.21]; 95% CI, 1.29‐4.21, P value = 0.004). No significant association was detected for the other two variants. Dual‐Luciferase Reporter Assay System performed in LoVo cells showed a significantly higher activity of the construct with ins allele of rs28362491 compared with the one harboring the del allele. Computational analysis nominated SOX9 as putative transcription factor (TF) with higher probability to bind the NFκB1 promoter at the SNP site, and we demonstrated in the in vitro assay that its overexpression modulates NFκB1 promoter activity in allele‐specific manner.ConclusionWe speculate that SOX9 may modulate the NFκB1 activity by binding its promoter at the SNP site in allelic specific manner.

By the end of 2019, pneumonia of unknown etiology occurred in Wuhan, China. Local hospitals started receiving patients presenting symptoms like dry cough, fatigue, and breathing difficulties, most of these patients were linked to the Huanan seafood market, Wuhan, China. The pandemic was afterward confirmed to be associated with a novel coronavirus. The virus spread quickly from Wuhan to other provinces of China, then from china to the rest of the world causing thereby one of the most brutal pandemics in the world’s history. SARS-CoV2 has a long incubation period ranging from 3 to 7 days and can go up to 14 days in some cases which makes the infection difficult to be detected early and subsequently the disease spread harder to be controlled. SARS-CoV-2 is a single-stranded RNA virus with 4 main structural proteins, the spike (S) glycoprotein, the small envelope (E) the glycoprotein, the membrane (M) glycoprotein as well as the nucleocapsid (N) protein. Current knowledge about the virus shows that it uses its spike protein to invade host cells, mainly the alveolar epithelial cells. The the lung is the most targeted organ among many other organs like the heart, small intestine, and kidneys that are vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The COVID-19 is known to be mild in most cases, but in some cases, it can be severe or even fatal. In the severe cases, acute respiratory distress syndrome was reported, and the the capability of SARS-CoV-2 to infect many organs can lead to multiorgan failure and death. SARS-CoV-2 invasion induces several immune responses that could be efficient for infection clearance in mild cases, while in severe cases, the immune response dysfunctions can even contribute to the disease aggravation. Neither the the pathogenic mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 infects host cells, nor the host immune response to its infection have been fully understood, hence further studies are needed to give further evidence about these two phenomena. Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Coronavirus, Structural proteins, Immune response.