Message from the Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute
The review, “Sex differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection rates and the potential link to prostate cancer,” was conducted to understand the epidemiological and biological evidence for gender and/or sex disparity in COVID-19, the potential association between COVID-19 and prostate cancer molecular pathogenesis, and current therapeutic options for COVID-19 patients and, in particular, COVID-19 patients with prostate cancer. It was published July 2020 in Communications Biology.
“We know that COVID-19 uses two specific receptors to enter cells and replicate—angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and transmembrane protein, serine 2 (TMPRSS2),” says Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, Professor and Chair of the Department of Urology and Senior Author of the study. “It is common knowledge that TMPRSS2 is highly expressed in prostate cancer. Based on that, we were interested in determining if prostate cancer patients were more susceptible to COVID-19 infection.”