Natural killer cell dysfunction is associated with colorectal cancer with severe COVID-19

Table 1 Characteristic features of study populations

	CRC patients	CRC+ patients
Number	15	15
Age	61.9 (43-75)	60.0 (43-73)
Gender (male:female)	8:7	8:7
BMI (kg/m2)	25.93 ± 3.48	25.95 ± 3.38
TNM stage
I	10	9
II	5	6
Degree of differentiation
High	1	1
Moderately	14	14

CRC: Colorectal cancer; CRC⁺: Colorectal cancer with severe coronavirus disease 2019; BMI: Body mass index; TNM: Tumor-node-metastasis.

Table 2 Correlation analysis of natural killer cell cytotoxic activity and severe coronavirus disease 2019 in colorectal cancer with severe coronavirus disease 2019 patients

	CRC patients	CRC+ patients	rs	P value
NKCA (%)	32.02 ± 13.56	17.34 ± 10.07	-0.563	0.001

CRC: Colorectal cancer; CRC⁺: Colorectal cancer with severe coronavirus disease 2019; NKCA: Natural killer cell cytotoxic activity.

Table 3 Area under the curve and 95%CI of the receiver operator characteristic curve

	AUC	95%CI	P value
NK cells (%)	0.711	0.526-0.896	0.049
NK cells (109/L)	0.727	0.545-0.908	0.034
NKT cells (%)	0.724	0.539-0.910	0.036
NKT cells (109/L)	0.720	0.535-0.905	0.040
NKCA (%)	0.824	0.672-0.977	0.002
NKCF activity (%)	0.738	0.553-0.922	0.026

AUC: Area under the curve; NK: Natural killer; NKCA: Natural killer cell cytotoxic activity; NKCF: Natural killer cytotoxic factor.