AUTHOR=Bigdelou Banafsheh , Sepand Mohammad Reza , Najafikhoshnoo Sahar , Negrete Jorge Alfonso Tavares , Sharaf Mohammed , Ho Jim Q. , Sullivan Ian , Chauhan Prashant , Etter Manina , Shekarian Tala , Liang Olin , Hutter Gregor , Esfandiarpour Rahim , Zanganeh Steven TITLE=COVID-19 and Preexisting Comorbidities: Risks, Synergies, and Clinical Outcomes JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.890517 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2022.890517 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its associated symptoms, named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), have rapidly spread worldwide, resulting in the declaration of a pandemic. When several countries began enacting quarantine and lockdown policies, the pandemic as it is now known truly began. While most patients have minimal symptoms, approximately 20% of verified subjects are suffering from serious medical consequences. Co-existing diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and others, have been shown to make patients more vulnerable to severe outcomes from COVID-19 by modulating host–viral interactions and immune responses, causing severe infection and mortality. In this review, we outline the putative signaling pathways at the interface of COVID-19 and several diseases, emphasizing the clinical and molecular implications of concurring diseases in COVID-19 clinical outcomes. As evidence is limited on co-existing diseases and COVID-19, most findings are preliminary, and further research is required for optimal management of patients with comorbidities.