Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, studies are regularly trying to find out why certain people are more prone to suffer from serious forms of this virus than others. One of the latest comes from the USA and concerns women. A University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC) researcher showed that feminine sexual steroids could have an anti-inflammatory effect that may protect women from severe forms of the new coronavirus.
At the beginning of the week, a medical team suggested that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine may offer some protection from COVID-19, possibly explaining in part why children seem to be less affected by the disease. Now a UIC researcher has shown that estrogen and progesterone could also have a protective effect against certain covid-19 symptoms.
Graziano Pinna published his results in Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, focusing on pregnant women and the differences observed between men and women concerning the most serious forms of the disease. Pinna discovered that sex steroid hormones estrogen and progesterone but also allopregnanolone, a progesterone metabolite, played an anti-inflammatory role, stimulating antibody production and promoting respiratory epithelial cell repair while inhibiting the ACE2 receptor, the access point for SARS-CoV-2. In other terms, these sex steroids could protect women from certain symptoms.
Professeur Pinna started focusing on reproductive steroids back in March, when the epidemic started peaking. His research started after several reports showed that pregnant women had escalated symptoms of COVID-19 immediately after giving birth, with rapid drop of estradiol, progesterone and allopregnanolone.
"Hormones that help sustain the pregnancy -- like progesterone -- are 100 times more concentrated in a pregnancy's third trimester. Estradiol, allopregnanolone, and progesterone all have important anti-inflammatory functions and are involved in resetting the immune system. This suggests that pregnant women became symptomatic, and some were even admitted to the ICU, after delivering their babies because of the rapid drop in these hormones," said Pinna. "The correlation was really striking."
His observations were later confirmed by figures. Data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), showed that among the 38.071 pregnant women who had contracted covid-19, 51 died (0.13%). The death rate increased to 2% for women who weren't expecting. "Pregnant women are 15 times less likely to die from COVID than other women," said Pinna.
These results could also explain why men suffer from more severe covid-19 symptoms. "This observation in pregnant women provides significant scientific background, not only as to why women are more protected than men, but also why older people are less protected than younger people because we know the older you are, the more decreased your hormones are," concluded the main author of this study.
AFP RELAXNEWS
Thu Nov 26 2020
A recent US study shows that hormones may protect women from serious forms of COVID-19. AFPRelaxpic
Blok Negara Islam Sedang ‘Stress’? Langsung Dialog 4 Menteri Luar – Arab Saudi, Turkiye, Jordan dan Mesir
Situasi meruncing di Gaza, konflik Iran-Israel dan ditambah pula persaingan kuat dua kuasa, Amerika Syarikat dan China dilihat terus membayangi percaturan geopolitik dan geoekonomi negara-negara Islam di Asia Barat. Menteri Luar Turkiye dan Arab Saudi antara yang tampil duduk sepentas
membincangkan apa lagi yang bakal jadi nanti.
#SpecialMeeting24
membincangkan apa lagi yang bakal jadi nanti.
#SpecialMeeting24
Tiada bukti kaitkan guru dengan kes pedofilia di MRSM Tumpat - Polis
Tiada bukti dapat dikaitkan dengan seorang guru berhubung dakwaan berlaku kes pedofilia di Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) Tumpat.
Polis tahan pasangan kekasih, rampas pistol dan dadah bernilai RM4.73 juta
Polis menahan sepasang kekasih dipercayai terlibat kegiatan pengedaran dadah di sekitar Lembah Klang dan merampas pelbagai jenis dadah bernilai RM4.73 juta dalam serbuan di sebuah kondominium di Pucho
Suami kongsi gambar nikah, netizen beri kata-kata semangat buat Irma Hasmie
Perkongsian Redza menimbulkan respons yang pelbagai dalam kalangan netizen. Beberapa peminat turut dilihat memberikan kata-kata semangat kepada Irma.
Kotak hitam helikopter mendarat cemas di Pulau Angsa dihantar ke Itali
Kotak hitam helikopter AW139 milik Maritim Malaysia yang melakukan pendaratan cemas di sekitar perairan Pulau Angsa, Kuala Selangor telah dihantar ke Itali.
Leftenan Muda Min Youn satu-satunya penuntut bangsa Cina tamat latihan Komando
Leftenan Muda Chan Ming Youn dari Batalion Kedua Rejimen Renjer Diraja menjadi satu-satunya penuntut berbangsa cina yang berjaya menamatkan Kursus Asas Komando Gerup Gerak Khas (GGK) baru-baru ini.
Kawalan sempadan dipertingkat di sempadan Malaysia-Thailand
Polis Kelantan memantau perkembangan kejadian letupan dan insiden tembak menembak di Sungai Golok awal pagi Isnin dengan meningkatkan kawalan keselamatan di sempadan negara.
Pelancongan China dijangka meningkat
Sektor pelancongan China dijangka menyaksikan lonjakan berikutan perkembangan pasaran yang dibawa oleh Festival Qingming awal bulan ini.
Pelabur asing akhiri jualan lapan minggu, aliran masuk RM292 juta
Pelabur asing kembali menjadi pembeli bersih ekuiti domestik minggu lalu dengan nilai pembelian bersih berjumlah RM292.2 juta, menurut penyelidikan MIDF Research.
Sarawak komited jalin kerjasama denga Sweden
Lawatan kerja itu sebagai membalas jemputan oleh Menteri Perbadanan Pembangunan Antarabangsa Sweden Johan Forssel semasa pertemuan mereka tahun lepas.