Cancerworld Magazine
  • About the Magazine
    • Editorial Team
    • Leadership and Management
    • Events
    • Magazine
    • Archive
    • Contacts
  • Articles
    • Policy
    • Practice Points
    • Delivery of Care
    • Biology basic
    • Medicine
    • Featured
  • Contents
    • News
    • Editorials
    • Interviews to the Expert
    • In the Hot Seat
    • Profiles
    • Obituaries
    • Voices
    • Partnership
    • Supported contents
  • Media Corner
    • Journalist Cancer Guide
    • Cancer Journalism Award
    • Cancer Journalist Grant
NEWSLETTER  |  PRINT VERSION
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Cancerworld Magazine
Cancerworld Magazine
  • About the Magazine
    • Editorial Team
    • Leadership and Management
    • Events
    • Magazine
    • Archive
    • Contacts
  • Articles
    • Policy
    • Practice Points
    • Delivery of Care
    • Biology basic
    • Medicine
    • Featured
  • Contents
    • News
    • Editorials
    • Interviews to the Expert
    • In the Hot Seat
    • Profiles
    • Obituaries
    • Voices
    • Partnership
    • Supported contents
  • Media Corner
    • Journalist Cancer Guide
    • Cancer Journalism Award
    • Cancer Journalist Grant
Cancerworld Magazine > News > Hormone therapy for prostate cancer may shield from COVID-19
  • News

Hormone therapy for prostate cancer may shield from COVID-19

  • 18 May 2020
  • Elena Riboldi
Abnormal Lipid Metabolism in Prostate Cancer (Source: National Cancer Institute Purdue University Center for Cancer Research. Image by Ji-Xin Cheng)
Hormone therapy for prostate cancer may shield from COVID-19
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0
0
0
Abnormal Lipid Metabolism in Prostate Cancer (Source: National Cancer Institute Purdue University Center for Cancer Research. Image by Ji-Xin Cheng)

Prostate cancer patients treated with androgen-deprivation therapies (ADTs) seem to have a lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 complications compared to patients not treated with ADTs and compared to other cancer patients. If confirmed, a short term treatment with ADT may be considered in male individuals at high risk of severe COVID-19.

The protective role of ADTs is suggested by an Italian-Swiss group led by pharmacologist Monica Montopoli from the University of Padua and the Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM) in a paper just published in Annals of Oncology. The rationale behind this research is that the transmembrane protein TMPRSS2, involved in SARS-CoV-2 cell entry, is highly expressed in prostate cancer. Its expression in prostatic and non-prostatic tissues, including lung, has been shown to be regulated by the androgen receptor. Montopoli and colleagues hypothesized that ADTs may protect patients affected by prostate cancer from SARS-CoV-2 infections.

To test this hypothesis, they analysed data from 9,280 patients (44% men) from Veneto, one of the Italian regions most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: 430 of the male patients had a diagnosis of cancer and 118 had a diagnosis of prostate cancer. Consistently with previous reports, SARS-CoV-2-infected men had a worse clinical outcome than women. The infection was more frequent in cancer patients than in Veneto male residents without cancer. Moreover, cancer patients developed more severe disease conditions.

Among prostate cancer patients receiving ADT, researchers observed a significantly lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections compared both to patients who did not receive ADT and to patients with any other type of cancer: only 4 out of 5,273 patients receiving ADT in Veneto developed SARS-CoV-2 infection and none of these patients died.

“These data need to be further validated in additional large cohorts of SARS-CoV-2-infected patients and corrected for multiple variables – acknowledge the authors. They propose that androgen-deprivation therapies based on LHRH agonist/antagonists or AR inhibitors may be considered as a measure to reduce SARS-CoV-2 infections or complications in high-risk male populations. Given that the effects of these compounds are reversible, they could be used transiently (e.g. one month) in patients affected by SARS-CoV-2, thereby reducing the risk of side effects due to long-term administration.

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • androgen deprivation therapy
  • covid-19
  • prostate
Elena Riboldi

Previous Article
  • News

The misuse of “noninferiority” in presenting trials is often misleading

  • 11 May 2020
  • Elena Riboldi
View Post
Next Article
  • Voices

Cancer nursing, COVID-19 and healthcare inequality

  • 18 May 2020
  • Andreas Charalambous
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • News

US study suggests colorectal cancer screening should start at age 45

  • Janet Fricker
  • 25 May 2022
View Post
  • News

Multicomponent prevention strategy reduces risk of cancer

  • Janet Fricker
  • 20 May 2022
View Post
  • News

Lumpectomy as effective as mastectomy in young breast cancer patients

  • Janet Fricker
  • 13 May 2022
View Post
  • News

Multi organ chip could facilitate personalised cancer therapy 

  • Janet Fricker
  • 12 May 2022
View Post
  • News

100,000 Genomes Project pinpoints new cancer genetic culprits

  • Janet Fricker
  • 29 April 2022
View Post
  • News

IL-6 provides missing link between exercise and colon cancer protection

  • Janet Fricker
  • 28 April 2022
View Post
  • News

CAR T-cell therapy shows efficacy in solid tumours

  • Janet Fricker
  • 20 April 2022
View Post
  • News

No link between brain tumours and ‘usual’ use of mobile phones

  • Janet Fricker
  • 14 April 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

search
or search in Cancerworld archive
Newsletter

Subscribe free to
Cancerworld!

We'll keep you informed of the latest features and news with a fortnightly email

Subscribe now
Latest News
  • US study suggests colorectal cancer screening should start at age 45
    • 25 May 2022
  • Multicomponent prevention strategy reduces risk of cancer
    • 20 May 2022
  • Lumpectomy as effective as mastectomy in young breast cancer patients
    • 13 May 2022
  • Multi organ chip could facilitate personalised cancer therapy 
    • 12 May 2022
  • 100,000 Genomes Project pinpoints new cancer genetic culprits
    • 29 April 2022
Article
  • Cervical cancer: Rebuilding a nation’s broken trust in their screening service
    • 25 May 2022
  • What can we expect from mRNA cancer vaccines?
    • 13 May 2022
  • Sri Lanka cancer care hit by foreign currency crisis
    • 6 May 2022
Latest printed issue
Social

Would you follow us ?

Contents
  • Message from a Ukrainian oncologist: Please prioritise my patients ‒ if you don’t who will?
    • 19 April 2022
  • Pandemics, War, Reconstruction and the Duty of Medicine and Science
    • 4 April 2022
  • Crisis in the Ukraine: we can help by doing what we do best
    • 4 March 2022
MENU
  • About the Magazine
    • Editorial Team
    • Leadership and Management
    • Events
    • Magazine
    • Archive
    • Contacts
  • Articles
    • Policy
    • Practice Points
    • Delivery of Care
    • Biology basic
    • Medicine
    • Featured
  • Contents
    • News
    • Editorials
    • Interviews to the Expert
    • In the Hot Seat
    • Profiles
    • Obituaries
    • Voices
    • Partnership
    • Supported contents
  • Media Corner
    • Journalist Cancer Guide
    • Cancer Journalism Award
    • Cancer Journalist Grant
Cancerworld Magazine
  • About the Magazine
  • Articles
  • Media Corner
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Cancerworld is funded by SPCC Sharing Progress in Cancer Care | Piazza Indipendenza 2, 6500 Bellinzona - Switzerland | info@spcc.net

Archivio Cancerworld

Input your search keywords and press Enter.