Unexpected good news! De-androgen therapy can protect men from COVID-19

, June 8, 2020 /PRNewswire
/-- A study of 4,532 men in the Veneto region of Italy found that people who are undergoing anti-androgen therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer are less likely to contract the coronavirus COVID-19 if they are infected and the disease is less severethe study, published recently in the leading cancer journal, theAnnals of Oncology, said their findings suggest that ADT appears to protect men from COVID-19 infectionresearchers led by Professor Andrea Alimonti of the University of Ticino in Switzerland, who led the researchers, found that 9.5 percent (430) of 4,532 men infected with COVID-19 had cancer and 2.6 percent (118) had prostate cancerMale cancer patients are 1.8 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than all male patients and develop to more serious diseasesHowever, when they looked at all prostate cancer patients in the Veneto region, they found that only four of the 5,273 men treated with ADT had COVID-19 infection and none had diedBy comparison, there were 37,161 prostate cancer patients who were not treated with ADT, 114 of whom were infected with COVID-19 and 18 diedOf the 79,661 other types of cancer, 312 were infected with COVID-19 and 57 diedpicture source: "Prostate cancer patients who received treatment with androgens significantly reduced their risk of COVID-19 infection by four times compared to patients who were not treated with ADTWhen we compared prostate cancer patients treated with ADT with other types of cancer patients, we found a greater difference; This is the first paper to suggest a link between ADT and COVID-19We collected a large amount of data from patients infected with the coronavirus and found that prostate cancer patients who received ADT treatment were protected, although all cancer patients were at higher risk of CONTRACT-19 than non-cancer patients"
researchers believe their findings suggest that even men with out of prostate cancer who may develop middle-risk COVID-19 may need time for ADT treatment to prevent infection, while those infections may require ADT to reduce the severity of symptoms."": "There are several clinically approved treatments that can reduce androgen levels that can be used in patientsFor example, progesterone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) antagonists can reduce testosterone levels in patients within 48 hours, and the effect is short-livedOnce the patient stops taking the medicine, his testosterone levels return to its previous levelsThese treatments that lower testosterone levels, if not more than a month, do not have significant side effects," Professor Alimonti said"I hope our findings will inspire other clinicians to conduct transient ADTclinical trials on the basis of other experimental treatments,""Although these data need to be further validated in a larger group of PATIENTs with COVID-19, they provide an answer to the hypothesis that androgen levels promote coronary virus infection and aggravation symptoms, as seen in male patients." "
this year, Professor Alimonti and his colleagues began studying the effects of ADT on COVID-19 susceptibility, after previous studies showed that a protein called TMPRSS2 helps COVID-19 infect healthy human cellsTMPRSS2 is a member of a protein family called type II transmembranesine protease that participates in many processes in the body, including cancer and viral infectionsThe level of TMPRSS2 in prostate cancer patients is high, its effect is regulated by androgen receptors, and ADT and other treatments are its targeted treatmentAndrogen receptors can also regulate the level of TMPRSS2 in non-prostate tissue, including the lungs"This could explain why men infected with COVID-19 develop a more aggressive disease than women," Professor Alimonti said"It is well known that ADT can reduce the level of TMPRSS2 in prostate cancer patients, and some experimental evidence suggests that this may occur not only in the prostate but also in other tissuesSo I wanted to see if ADT could reduce the risk of contracting coronavirus in prostate cancer patientssuggestthat ADT therapy can be combined with other drugs that prevent virus replication and infection of human cells, or with drugs that interfere with the activity of TMPRSS2 in the bodyPhoto Source: Limitations of the study include that COVID-19 patients may be tested for more viruses than non-cancer patients because they are hospitalized more often This may explain the high prevalence of coronavirus in cancer patients Prostate cancer patients treated with ADT may be more careful to maintain social distance than patients who are not treated with ADT and other types of cancer, especially if ADT can be used at home Professor Fabrice Andre, editor-in-chief of the Oncology Yearbook and research director at the Gustave Roussy Institute in Villerif, France, said: "We decided to publish this study because it provides a theoretical basis for a forward-looking assessment of the efficacy of ADT in patients with COVID-19 However, this study does not provide a clear conclusion on the role of ADT in patients with COVID-19, and such drugs should not be used for this purpose until prospective trials confirm their effectiveness " (biovalleybioon.com) reference: Androgen-based treatments for prostate cancer cancer from men covid-19 M M Montopoli et al, Androgen-kingo-therapies for prostate and prostate risk and cancer by SARS-CoV-2: a population-study (n-4532) DOI: 10.1016/j.annonc.2020.04.479