The hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 affects male reproductive ability by regulating autophagy.
Med Hypotheses
; 143: 110083, 2020 Oct.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-639339
ABSTRACT
The outbreak of CoronaVirus Disease19 (COVID19) in December 2019 posed a serious threat to public safety, and its rapid spread caused a global health emergency. Clinical data show that in addition to respiratory system damage, some male patients with COVID-19 are also accompanied by abnormal renal function and even renal damage. As the main receptor of syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is also found to be highly expressed not only in respiratory mucosa and alveolar epithelial cells, but also in renal tubule cells, testicular Leydig cells and seminiferous tubule cells. This suggests that SARS-CoV-2 has the possibility of infecting the male reproductive system, and the recent detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the patient's semen further confirms this theory. In previous studies, it has been found that ACE2 has the ability to regulate autophagy. Not only that, recent studies have also found that SARS-CoV-2 infection can also lead to a reduction in autophagy. All of these associate SARS-CoV-2 with autophagy. Furthermore, autophagy has been shown to have an effect on male reproduction in many studies. Based on these, we propose the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 affects male reproductive function by regulating autophagy. This hypothesis may provide a new idea for future treatment of COVID-19 male patients with reproductive function injury, and it can also prompt medical staff and patients to consciously check their reproductive function.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Reproduction
/
Autophagy
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Betacoronavirus
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Med Hypotheses
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
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