Lung Cancer and COVID-19: Therapeutic Implications

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has affected millions of people and has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, affecting more than 200 countries. The medical crisis situation experienced has forced clinical decisions that are not always supported by hard data. This is even more dangerous in the situation of lung cancer patients, since, lungs are the tissue predominately affected by SARS-CoV-2, these patients are potentially more fragile, and are under different oncological treatments.In this mini-review we examine the most relevant studies currently available, to manage lung cancer patients in the best possible way, reviewing relative risks of patients and specific problems of differential diagnosis among COVID-19 and lung cancer, in order to adapt treatment strategies for these patients.Overall, larger cohorts of lung cancer patients and specific immune system reports need to be carried out to improve patients care.