The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) caused by the novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 has caused a global public health crisis. As of 7 January 2021, 87,640,402 confirmed cases and 1,891,692 mortalities have been reported worldwide. Studies focusing on the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients have suggested a dysregulated immune response characterized by lymphopenia and cytokine storm in these patients. The exaggerated immune response induced by the cytokine storm causes septic shock, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and/or multiple organs failure, which increases the fatality rate of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Herein, we review the recent research progress on epidemiology, clinical features, and system pathology in COVID-19. Moreover, we summarized the recent therapeutic strategies, which are either approved, under clinical trial, and/or under investigation by the local or global health authorities. We assume that treatments should focus on the use of antiviral drugs in combination with immunomodulators as well as treatment of the underlying comorbidities.

The dysregulation of CD3 ⁺ CD8 ⁺ T lymphocytes, CD16 ⁺ CD56 ⁺ NK cells, C1q as well as IL-6, along with bacterial coinfection, were important causes of exacerbation of the patients’ condition and death.

Cancer has been a major public health problem that has threatened human life worldwide throughout history. The main causes that contribute to the poor prognosis of cancer are metastasis and recurrence. Cancer stem cells are a group of tumor cells that possess self-renewal and differentiation ability, which is a vital cause of cancer metastasis and recurrence. Long non-coding RNAs refer to a class of RNAs that are longer than 200 nt and have no potential to code proteins, some of which can be specifically expressed in different tissues and different tumors. Long non-coding RNAs have great biological significance in the occurrence and progression of cancers. However, how long non-coding RNAs interact with cancer stem cells and then affect cancer metastasis and recurrence is not yet clear. Therefore, this review aims to summarize recent studies that focus on how long non-coding RNAs impact tumor occurrence and progression by affecting cancer stem cell self-renewal and differentiation in liver cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and glioma.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a hematological malignancy characterized by the malignant clonal expansion of lymphoid hematopoietic precursors. It is regulated by various signaling molecules such as cytokines and adhesion molecules in its microenvironment. Chemokines are chemotactic cytokines that regulate migration, positioning and interactions of cells. Many chemokine axes such as CXCL12/CXCR4 and CCL25/CCR9 have been proved to play important roles in leukemia microenvironment and further affect ALL outcomes. In this review, we summarize the chemokines that are involved in ALL progression and elaborate on their roles and mechanisms in leukemia cell proliferation, infiltration, drug resistance and disease relapse. We also discuss the potential of targeting chemokine axes for ALL treatments, since many related inhibitors have shown promising efficacy in preclinical trials, and some of them have entered clinical trials.