Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kocaeli University School of Medicine, Umuttepe, Kocaeli, Turkey.
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Bursa Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Bursa, Turkey.
Hormones (Athens). 2021 Jun;20(2):259-268. doi: 10.1007/s42000-021-00277-3. Epub 2021 Mar 17.
The novel SARS-CoV-2 has spread to virtually all countries of the world infecting millions of people, the medical burden of this disease obviously being enormous. The gonads of both sexes are among the organs that may be affected by COVID-19 and/or may affect the severity of the disease. The clinical spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 infection clearly differs between genders. The current evidence indicates that the underlying mechanism of such an interaction could be associated with genetic, hormonal, and immunological differences, as well as with gender differences in such habits as smoking and alcohol use. On the other hand, there are controversies as to how and to what extent the gonads could be affected by COVID-19, possibly impacting upon sex steroids, fertility, and other functions. This review underlines the possible mechanisms that could clarify these questions concerning COVID-19 and the gonads. In addition, reference is made to potential new treatment modalities presently under investigation, these supported by accumulating data published in the recent literature.
新型严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 已传播至世界几乎所有国家，感染了数百万人，该疾病的医疗负担显然巨大。男性和女性的性腺都是可能受 COVID-19 影响的器官之一，也可能影响疾病的严重程度。SARS-CoV-2 感染的临床谱在性别之间明显不同。目前的证据表明，这种相互作用的潜在机制可能与遗传、激素和免疫差异以及吸烟和饮酒等习惯中的性别差异有关。另一方面，关于性腺如何以及在多大程度上可能受到 COVID-19 的影响存在争议，这可能会影响性激素、生育能力和其他功能。这篇综述强调了可能的机制，可以阐明这些关于 COVID-19 和性腺的问题。此外，还提到了目前正在研究的潜在新治疗方法，这些方法得到了最近文献中发表的累积数据的支持。
