Objective Previous studies have reported a correlation between coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) and asthma. However, data on whether asthma constitutes a risk factor for COVID-19 and the prevalence of asthma in COVID-19 cases still remains scant. Here, we interrogated and analyzed the association between COVID-19 and asthma. Methods In this study, we systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases for studies published between January 1, to August 28, 2020. We included studies that reported the epidemiological and clinical features of COVID-19 and its prevalence in asthma patients. We excluded reviews, animal trails, single case reports, small case series and studies evaluating other coronavirus-related illnesses. Raw data from the studies were pooled into a meta-analysis. Results We analyzed findings from 18 studies, including asthma patients with COVID-19. The pooled prevalence of asthma in COVID-19 cases was 0.08 (95% CI, 0.06-0.11), with an overall I 2 of 99.07%, p < 0.005 . The data indicated that asthma did not increase the risk of developing severe COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] 1.04 (95% CI, 0.75-1.46) p = 0.28; I 2 =20%). In addition, there was no significant difference in the incidence of asthma with analyze age in COVID-19 infections [OR] 0.77(95% CI, 0.59–1.00) p = 0.24; I 2 =29%). Conclusion Taken together, our data suggested that asthma is not a significant risk factor for the development of severe COVID-19.

Neo-chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) before surgery is a standard treatment for locally advanced esophageal cancers. However, the treatment outcome of nCRT varied with different patients. This study aimed to identify potential biomarkers for prediction of nCRT-response in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Microarray datasets of nCRT responder and non-responder samples (access number GSE45670 and GSE59974) of patients with ESCC were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The mRNA expression profiles of cancer biopsies from four ESCC patients were analyzed before and after nCRT. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and miRNAs were screened between nCRT responder and non-responder ESCC samples. Functional enrichment analysis was conducted for these DEGs followed by construction of protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and miRNA-mRNA regulatory network. Finally, univariate survival analysis was performed to identify candidate biomarkers with prognostic values in ESCC. We identified numerous DEGs and differentially expressed miRNAs from nCRT responder group. GO and KEGG analysis showed that the dysregulated genes were mainly involved in biological processes and pathways, including “response to stimulus”, “cellular response to organic substance”, “regulation of signal transduction”, “AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications”, and “steroid hormone biosynthesis”. After integration of PPI network and miRNA-mRNA network analysis, we found eight genes, TNF, AKR1C1, AKR1C2, ICAM1, GPR68, GNB4, SERPINE1 and MMP12, could be candidate genes associated with disease progression. Univariate cox regression analysis showed that there was no significant correlation between dysregulated miRNAs (such as hsa-miR-34b-3p, hsa-miR-127-5p, hsa-miR-144-3p, and hsa-miR-486-5p, et al.) and overall survival of ESCC patients. Moreover, abnormal expression of MMP12 was significantly correlated with pathological degree, TNM stage, lymph nodes metastasis, and overall survival of ESCC patients (p &lt; 0.05). Taken together, our study identified that MMP12 might be a useful tumor biomarker and therapeutic target for ESCC.

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