Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become an epidemiological threat and a worldwide concern. SARS-CoV-2 has spread to 210 countries worldwide and more than 6,500,000 confirmed cases and 384,643 deaths have been reported, while the number of both confirmed and fatal cases is continually increasing. COVID-19 is a viral disease that can affect every age group—from infants to the elderly—resulting in a wide spectrum of various clinical manifestations. COVID-19 might present different degrees of severity—from mild or even asymptomatic carriers, even to fatal cases. The most common complications include pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Fever, dry cough, muscle weakness, and chest pain are the most prevalent and typical symptoms of COVID-19. However, patients might also present atypical symptoms that can occur alone, which might indicate the possible SARS-CoV-2 infection. The aim of this paper is to review and summarize all of the findings regarding clinical manifestations of COVID-19 patients, which include respiratory, neurological, olfactory and gustatory, gastrointestinal, ophthalmic, dermatological, cardiac, and rheumatologic manifestations, as well as specific symptoms in pediatric patients.

Selected SNPs of genes encoding DNA repair enzymes and cell division regulation proteins could be useful biomarkers for prediction of platinum and vinorelbine-based chemotherapy toxicity in patients with advanced NSCLC.

Platinum-based chemotherapy with third generation drugs (such as gemcitabine) is an efficacious regimen of first-line treatment of patients with advanced, unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), without activating EGFR mutations. Mechanism of action of cytostatics are distortions in the DNA. ERCC1 and RRM1 are key proteins involved in the repair of DNA, thus, they may be responsible for the ineffectiveness of therapy. We investigated whether ERCC1 (19007C>T) and RRM1 (-37C>A) polymorphisms impact response to chemotherapy and survival in 62 patients with NSCLC treated with platinum and gemcitabine. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were assessed using a PCR-RFLP method in DNA isolated from PBLs. There were no statistically significant relationships between ERCC1 genotypes and response to therapy (p=0.581, χ2=1.09) as well as patient overall survival (OS). Carriers of the RRM1 AC genotype showed disease progression significantly more frequently (p=0.019, χ2=5.473) compared to carriers of the AA or CC genotypes. Carriers of the ERCC1/RRM1TT/CC genotype combination showed disease control significantly more frequently (p=0.047, χ2=3.95) compared to carriers of other genotype combinations. Patients with AA or CC genotypes of RRM1 showed significantly higher progression-free survival probability (p=0.0001, HR=0.39, 95% CI, 0.22-0.70) and OS probability (p=0.0104, HR=0.39, 95% CI, 0.18-0.82) compared to those with the AC genotype. In Cox regression model, poor performance status (p=0.0016, HR=4.78, 95% CI, 1.82-12.56), AC genotype of RRM1 gene (p=0.0414, HR=2.47, 95% CI, 1.04-5.87), lack of prior surgical treatment (p=0.0425, HR=4.71, 95% CI, 1.06-20.92) and lack of subsequent lines of treatment (p=0.0127, HR=3.23, 95% CI, 1.29-8.11) were significantly associated with shortening of patient survival. The analysis of RRM1 (-37C>A) more than ERCC1 (19007C>T) polymorphism may be a promising tool in the qualification of NSCLC patients for chemotherapy containing platinum compounds and gemcitabine.

Skin melanomas are malignant neoplasms originating from neuroectodermal melanocytes. Compared to other neoplasms, melanomas have a high rate of growth. Their incidence is highest in Australia and New Zealand, in high-income European countries (Switzerland, Norway, Sweden) and in the US. In Poland, the standardized incidence rate is approximately 5/100,000. Melanomas are typically highly radioresistant and chemoresistant. Before the era of immunotherapy, inoperable lesions were treated using chemotherapy based mainly on dacarbazine, temozolomide or fotemustine, which did not yield the expected results in terms of extending survival time or improving patient comfort. Therefore, there has emerged a need to seek other solutions. In most cases, the use of immunological treatment or targeted therapy has had a positive impact on survival time and relapse-free survival. However, these periods are still relatively short, hence the need for further research and improvement of treatment. The most promising strategies appear to be antibodies that block programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) and programmed death receptor ligand-1 (PD-L1) molecules, anti-CTLA4 antibodies (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4) and therapy with BRAF and MEK inhibitors.

Every year, about 650 thousand new cases of Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) are diagnosed globally. Apart from surgery, radiotherapy (RTH), chemotherapy (CHT) or its combination is used in the treatment of HNC. One of the most frequent complications and, at the same time, limitations of RTH is oral mucositis (OM). Proinflammatory cytokines (including TNF-α) play a key role in the development of OM. Genetic alterations, i.e. single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within genes encoding for receptors for TNF (ie. TNFRSF1A) may change their function. The aim of this study was to investigate relationship between a polymorphism of TNFRSF1A and occurrence and severity of acute reaction after RTH for HNC patients. Data from 58 HNC patients (stages I-IV) were analyzed. All of them were irradiated using IMRT technique with doses 50-70Gy. Oral mucositis (OM) was evaluated according to RTOG/EORTC guidelines. DNA from HNC patients were isolated from whole blood and genotypes were determined by sequencing method. Patients with TT or GT genotype demonstrated higher risk of manifestation of grade 3 OM in 5th week of RTH (p=0.041; OR=9.240; 95% CI: 1.101–77.581) compared to GG carriers. Similarly, high risk of grade 3 OM in patients with T allele presence was noted in 6th week (p=0.030; OR=10.50; 95%CI:1.257–87.690) and in 7th week (p=0.008; OR=5.625; 95% CI: 1.584–19.975) of treatment compared to patients with GG homozygote. Our results indicate an association between SNP of TNFRSF1A (rs4149570) gene and risk of more severe OM related to radiation therapy for HNC patients.