Prostate cancer drug potential against COVID

The team added proxalutamide to cells infected with SARS-Co-V2 to monitor its ability to block viral entry. The compound works by binding to androgen receptors, inhibiting levels of TMPRSS2 and ACE2, and blocking infection.

Proxalutamide worked better than other prostate cancer drugs against multiple variants of SARS-CoV2 due to its ability to break down the androgen receptor.

Additionally, proxalutamide, when combined with FDA-approved COVID drug remdesivir, blocked infection by 100%. By their in vitro results, the team looked to see whether the compound could stop the so-called cytokine storm, or severe inflammatory response, caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Using a mouse model, they demonstrated that the drug reduced inflammation and cell death in the lungs of mice and reduced mortality.

Reference: “Proxalutamide reduces SARS-CoV-2 infection and associated inflammatory response,” PNAS. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2221809120