Are female-specific cancers long-term sequelae of COVID-19? Evidence from a large-scale genome-wide cross-trait analysis
Could the pandemic result in more ovarian cancer in the future? Previously an association of cancer with viral infections has been noted especially involving the liver cervix and lymphomas. It is suspected that up to 10% of all cancer is associated with a previous viral infection.
This begs the question, “Will COVID-19 infection do the same”? Obviously the pandemic is too recent for long-term effects to be apparent. However, it is possible to look at the genetic variants resulting from the infection and speculate about the consequences.
One of the commonest genetic variations is a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP), where a single change in the DNA code has occurred. This study looked at the large amount of genetic information available about ovarian cancer genotypes and COVID-19 affected individuals. There are correlations, with 15 SNP variants being common to both groups. This is a preliminary study and does not indicate any known increased risk but does raise concern.
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