Prognostic Significance of COVID-19 Receptor ACE2 and Recommendation for Antihypertensive Drug in Renal Cell Carcinoma

PURPOSE: Owing to its worldwide spread, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the outer surface protein of the cell membrane that is abundantly distributed in the heart, lungs, and kidneys and plays an important role in molecular docking of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. In this study, we aimed to analyze the difference in the survival rate according to ACE2 expressions in pan-cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We downloaded clinical and genomic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. We used Kaplan-Meier with a log-rank test, and the Cox proportional hazards regression to analyze prognostic significance. RESULTS: In the Kaplan-Meier curve, clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), uveal melanoma, and prostate adenocarcinoma showed statistical significance. In the Cox regression, thyroid carcinoma and glioblastoma multiforme and ccRCC showed significant results. Only ccRCC had statistical significance, and high ACE2 expression is related to good prognosis. It is known that the ACE inhibitor, a primary antihypertensive agent, increases ACE2 expression. CONCLUSION: Based on these results, we believe that the ACE inhibitor will be important to increase the lifespan of ccRCC patients. This study is the first research to offer a recommendation on the use of anti-hypertensive drugs to ccRCC patients.