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Okpechi SC, Fong JT, Gill SS, Harman JC, Nguyen TH, Chukwurah QC, Onor IO, Alahari SK. Global Sex Disparity of COVID-19: A Descriptive Review of Sex Hormones and Consideration for the Potential Therapeutic Use of Hormone Replacement Therapy in Older Adults. Aging Dis 2021; 12:671-683. [PMID: 33815890 PMCID: PMC7990361 DOI: 10.14336/ad.2020.1211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2020] [Accepted: 12/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The 2019-2020 SARS-related coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to healthcare sectors around the world. As of November 2020, there have been over 64 million confirmed cases and approaching 2 million deaths globally. Despite the large number of positive cases, there are very limited established standards of care and therapeutic options available. To date, there is still no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved vaccine for COVID-19, although there are several options in various clinical trial stages. Herein, we have performed a global review evaluating the roles of age and sex on COVID-19 hospitalizations, ICU admissions, deaths in hospitals, and deaths in nursing homes. We have identified a trend in which elderly and male patients are significantly affected by adverse outcomes. There is evidence suggesting that sex hormone levels can influence immune system function against SARS-CoV-2 infection, thus reducing the adverse effects of COVID-19. Since older adults have lower levels of these sex hormones, we therefore speculate, within rational scientific context, that sex steroids, such as estrogen and progesterone, needs further consideration for use as alternative therapeutic option for treating COVID-19 elderly patients. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive article evaluating the significance of sex hormones in COVID-19 outcomes in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel C Okpechi
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
| | - Jordyn T Fong
- Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
| | - Shawn S Gill
- Ochsner Clinical School, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
| | - Jarrod C Harman
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
- Department of Ophthalmology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
- Neuroscience Center of Excellence, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
| | - Tina H Nguyen
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
- School of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
| | | | - IfeanyiChukwu O Onor
- College of Pharmacy, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA 70125, USA.
| | - Suresh K Alahari
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
- Louisiana Cancer Research Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
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Cai C, Zhao C, Kilari S, Sharma A, Singh AK, Simeon ML, Misra A, Li Y, Misra S. Effect of sex differences in treatment response to angioplasty in a murine arteriovenous fistula model. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 2019; 318:F565-F575. [PMID: 31813252 DOI: 10.1152/ajprenal.00474.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Failure to mature and venous neointimal hyperplasia formation are the two major causes of hemodialysis arteriovenous fistula (AVF) vascular access failure. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) is the firstline treatment for both of these conditions, but, clinically, women have decreased patency rates compared with men. The hypothesis to be tested in the present study was that female mice after PTA of venous areas of higher intimal thickening have increased gene expression of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and TGF-β receptor 1 (TGFβ-R1) accompanied with histological changes of fibrosis compared with male mice. Seventeen male and eighteen female C57BL/6J mice were used in this study. Chronic kidney disease was induced by partial nephrectomy, and, 28 days later, an AVF was created to connect the left carotid artery to the right jugular vein. Two weeks later, the higher intimal thickening area was treated with PTA, and mice were euthanized 3 days later for gene expression analysis or 14 days later for histopathological analysis. Doppler ultrasound was performed weekly after AVF creation. At day 3, female AVF had significantly higher average gene expression of TGF-β1 and TGFβ-R1 compared with male AVF. At day 14, female outflow veins had a smaller venous diameter, lumen vessel area, decreased wall shear stress, lower average peak systolic velocity, and an increased neointima area-to-media area ratio. Moreover, female outflow veins showed a significant increase in α-smooth muscle actin and fibroblast-specific protein-1. There was a decrease in M1/M2 with an increase in CD68.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuanqi Cai
- Department of Vascular Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.,Vascular and Interventional Radiology Translational Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Chenglei Zhao
- Vascular and Interventional Radiology Translational Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.,Department of Vascular Surgery, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Sreenivasulu Kilari
- Vascular and Interventional Radiology Translational Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Amit Sharma
- Vascular and Interventional Radiology Translational Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Avishek K Singh
- Vascular and Interventional Radiology Translational Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Michael L Simeon
- Vascular and Interventional Radiology Translational Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Avanish Misra
- Vascular and Interventional Radiology Translational Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Yiqing Li
- Department of Vascular Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Sanjay Misra
- Vascular and Interventional Radiology Translational Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.,Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.,Department of Radiology, Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota
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