Integrative profiling of CEACAM1 in different malignancies with implications on the SARS-CoV-2 infection genes ACE2 and TMPRSS2

Abstract

Increasing number of evidence demonstrated increased SARS-CoV-2 infection risk in cancer. Despite various studies shed light on SARS-CoV-2 mediated pathways upregulated in cancer, there is still ongoing efforts to reveal underlying mechanisms of elevated risk for COVID-19 disease in cancer. Given critical role of CEACAM1 in immune exhaustion and immune deregulation observed both in cancer and COVID-19, systematic characterization of CEACAM1 in different malignancies was performed with an ultimate aim to identify the involvement of CEACAM1 in enhanced COVID-19 susceptibility in cancer patients. Here we show that CEACAM1 expression was upregulated in a number of TCGA samples. In addition, CEACAM1 expression was positively correlated with SARS-CoV-2 infection genes in TCGA samples. Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis results of COVID-19 positive patients indicated upregulation of CEACAM1 expression. Furthermore, CEACAM1 expression was associated with HAVCR2, an immune checkpoint marker, and there was a correlation between CEACAM1 and HAVCR2 levels in different TCGA samples. Collectively, CEACAM1 might provide increased susceptibility of COVID-19 disease in cancer patients which might be explained with its interaction with HAVCR2.

Cancer and COVID-19: unravelling the immunological interplay with a review of promising therapies against severe SARS-CoV-2 for cancer patients

“…Studies from patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 have shown that carcinoembryonic antigen cell adhesion molecule (CEACAM1), a critical immune checkpoint receptor, is overexpressed and has been associated with HAVCR2, an immune checkpoint marker. This suggests that CEACAM1 might provide increased susceptibility for SARS-CoV-2 in cancer patients due to its interaction with HAVCR2 [74].…”