en Other Other Original Article Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Colorectal cancer is a common form of cancer and tends to be&ensp;associated with an increased viral infection severity, including after SARS-CoV-2 infection, in the presence of comorbidities such as hypertension. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with colorectal cancer can make their prognosis worse clinically, which requires the necessity of appropriate detection methods for early clinical&ensp;intervention. Due to early diagnosis is one of the most important components of an outbreak control, a comparison study using PCR&ensp;and ELISA to detect SARS-CoV-2 antigens in the patient population was carried out. Colorectal cancer and hypertensive patients were subjected to investigate the efficiency and reliability of both techniques. This case-control study comprised 30 cases of colorectal cancer patients with hypertension (HTN); 30 cases of HTN only; and 30 healthy controls&ensp;without colorectal cancer or HTN. Mean&ensp;age was 53.11&plusmn;2.05 years. SARS-CoV-2 antigens in serum samples drawn from all groups were detected&ensp;using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits and real-time PCR. The detection frequency of SARS-CoV-2 antigens was higher in colorectal cancer patients with hypertension&ensp;that were higher in the ELISA test known to be higher than in hypertension-only and healthy controls. In real-time PCR, the positive detection rate was 15% in CRC&ensp;group and 8% in hypertension group, showing a higher sensitivity than ELISA only in CRC group (p < 0.05). Both methods were successful in detecting SARS-CoV-2, but real-time PCR presented&ensp;a higher detection rate, indicating a higher viral load in the patients with colorectal cancer and with hypertension. ELISA results were confirmed by real-time PCR with higher sensitivity for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in&ensp;real-time PCR. In this context, considering that ELISA is a low-cost tool, its application is&ensp;suggested as an initial screening tool with positive samples for SARS-CoV-2 submitted to real-time PCR for confirmation.</span></span></span></span></div> SARS-CoV-2, Real-Time PCR, ELISA, Colorectal Cancer, Hypertension, Antigen Detection 0 0 http://ibbj.org/browse.php?a_code=A-10-431-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Ali Muhsen Ali ali.muhsen@shu.edu.iq 10031947532846004340 10031947532846004340 Yes College of Applied Medical Science, University of Shatrah, Iraq Sharara Fadhil Abbood Shararah.F@uokerbala.edu.iq 10031947532846004341 10031947532846004341 No College of Medicine, University of Kerbala, Iraq