Researchers launch trial to reduce severity of COVID-19 in men
Researchers have launched a new clinical trial that uses a hormone suppresser commonly used to treat men with prostate cancer to help improve clinical outcomes for men infected with COVID-19. The research, by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), published in Medical Xpress, revealed that the phase two trial will assess if temporarily suppressing male […]
Researchers have launched a new clinical trial that uses a hormone suppresser commonly used to treat men with prostate cancer to help improve clinical outcomes for men infected with COVID-19.
The research, by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), published in Medical Xpress, revealed that the phase two trial will assess if temporarily suppressing male hormones will reduce the severity of COVID-19 illness by helping patients get out of the hospital faster, decrease the need for intubation and improve mortality.
An independent Global Health 50/50 initiative, which has embarked on a project to collate data on gender and COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, from across the globe stated that while much emphasis was initially placed on the elderly or those who have pre-existing health conditions as being at risk of dying from the virus, it is now becoming clear that being male is also a factor.
Data from China first revealed a gender gap in deaths, with 64 percent of male sufferers dying compared to 36 percent of women, according to the Global Health 50/50 initiative.
In Nigeria, the data is not clear on the number of male and female cases of COVID-19.
The principal investigator and MD, professor of medicine and urology at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Matthew Rettig said it’s becoming pretty clear that men are more likely than women to die from COVID-19 and they think there is a connection between prostate cancer research and their understanding of COVID-19 research.
A recent data from New York City, the epicenter of infections in the United States, also showed that men are not only infected in greater numbers, but they are also dying at nearly twice the rate of women.
The convergence between prostate cancer research and COVID-19 research begins with a protein receptor called TMPRSS2, which is abnormal in about half of all prostate cancer patients and plays a role in the development and progression of prostate cancer.
This is the same receptor that researchers believe the virus uses to enter the lungs and attack lung tissue. The receptor is regulated by male hormones in prostate cancer, and researchers believe it may also be regulated in lung tissue by male hormones.
Rettig said, it’s kind of like a lock and key, adding that if the virus was the key and its receptor is the lock, then the virus inserts into the lock and can gain entry into the lung while the male hormones makes that lock more accessible to the virus.
“By suppressing the male hormones, it’s kind of like putting a piece of masking tape over the lock so that the key won’t fit in.
“We’re hoping this will not only help men with COVID-19 get out of the hospital faster, but ultimately, see less men dying from the virus,” Rettig said.
The director of the UCLA Centre for Gender and Global Health in the UK, Prof Sarah Hawkes, also said it is a pattern occurring in almost every country as researchers frantically begin to collate data from national health authorities.