The potential role of COVID-19 in progression, chemo-resistance, and tumor recurrence of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)

•Cancer patients, including those with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), are at a higher risk of severe COVID-19 and cancer progression.•Therapeutic approaches are needed to reduce the risk of cancer development, chemo-resistance, tumor recurrence, and death in OSCC patients with COVID-19.•The review highlights potential cellular and molecular mechanisms through which SARS-CoV-2 may contribute to these problems in OSCC patients.•Pharmacological targeted therapies based on these mechanisms are suggested as potential treatment options. Numerous studies have revealed that cancer patients are more likely to develop severe Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), which can cause mortality, as well as cancer progression and treatment failure. Among these patients who may be particularly vulnerable to severe COVID-19 and COVID-19-associated cancer progression are those with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). In this regard, therapeutic approaches must be developed to lower the risk of cancer development, chemo-resistance, tumor recurrence, and death in OSCC patients with COVID-19. It may be helpful to comprehend the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) contributes to these problems. In this line, in this review, we described the potential cellular and molecular mechanisms that SARS-CoV-2 can exert its role and based on them pharmacological targeted therapies were suggested. However, in this study, we encourage more investigations in the future to uncover other cellular and molecular mechanisms of action of SARS-CoV-2 to develop beneficial therapeutic strategies for such patients.