Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA by In Situ Hybridization in Lung-Cancer Cells Metastatic to Brain and in Adjacent Brain Parenchyma

Overview

Journal Pathogens

Date 2023 Jun 28

PMID 37375462

Authors

Tibor Valyi-Nagy

Brian Fredericks

Jessica Wilson

Sajal Deea Shukla

Suman Setty

Konstantin V Slavin

Klara Valyi-Nagy

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The mechanisms by which severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may spread to the human brain are poorly understood, and the infection of cancer cells in the brain by SARS-CoV-2 in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients has been the subject of only one previous case report. Here, we report the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA by in situ hybridization in lung-cancer cells metastatic to the brain and adjacent brain parenchyma in a 63-year-old male patient with COVID-19. These findings suggest that metastatic tumors may transport the virus from other parts of the body to the brain or may break down the blood-brain barrier to allow for the virus to spread to the brain. These findings confirm and extend previous observations that cancer cells in the brain can become infected by SARS-CoV-2 in patients with COVID-19 and raise the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 can have a direct effect on cancer growth and outcome.

Citing Articles

Equivocating and Deliberating on the Probability of COVID-19 Infection Serving as a Risk Factor for Lung Cancer and Common Molecular Pathways Serving as a Link.

Amara A, Trabelsi S, Hai A, Zaidi S, Siddiqui F, Alsaeed S Pathogens. 2025; 13(12.

PMID: 39770330 PMC: 11728627. DOI: 10.3390/pathogens13121070.

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