Prostate cancer treatment could protect men from COVID-19

An Italian study investigating the prevalence and severity of COVID-19 in men with prostate cancer has revealed that patients treated with androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) were less likely to develop COVID-19, and in those who were infected, the disease was less severe. Published in Annals of Oncology, the results of the study suggest that therapy, such as androgen-deprivation, could potentially be used to protect men from COVID-19 infection. After learning of early COVID-19 research demonstrating that a Type II Transmembrane Serine Protease regulated by the androgen receptor, TMPRSS2, aided COVID-19 infection, Professor Andrew Alimonti and his team at Università della Svizzera...