Androgens and severity of the new coronavirus infection course

The analysis results of work in the conditions of a pandemic of a new coronavirus infection pandemic showed that patients with malignant neoplasms (ZNO) belong to a group of high risk of infection and severe course of this infectious disease. The incidence of COVID‑19 complications in this group of patients is 3.5 times higher than in the general population, which is largely due to the immunosuppressive effect of both oncological diseases themselves and their treatment.

Many attempts have been held to identify and validate other risk factors for severe COVID‑19. Epidemiological data indicate that elderly patients with chronic diseases, including diabetes mellitus (DM), arterial hypertension (AH), obesity, are susceptible to a more severe course of COVID‑19 with a higher frequency of deaths. A number of studies have noted a higher incidence of severe forms of the infectious process and a higher level of COVID‑19‑associated mortality in men. Currently new aspects of the influence of hormonal changes, including iatrogenic ones, on the course of coronavirus infection are being identified. In particular, the data of clinical studies demonstrate a correlation between the level of testosterone in the blood serum and the level of inflammatory cytokines, the features of viral entry into cells, the course of the disease as a whole. This is especially important for understanding the features of the new coronavirus infection in patients with prostate cancer (PC), including for the development of a therapeutic algorithm, indications and contraindications to certain methods of treating PC in a pandemic, as well as ways of additional therapeutic effects when combined with PC and COVID‑19.

The review presents the results of studies on the potential mechanisms of increased susceptibility of men to SARS‑CoV‑2 and discusses the search for new therapeutic targets in COVID‑19, discusses the features of the course of COVID‑19 in patients with PC depending on the level of androgens, including androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).

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