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Review
. 2020 Jun;10(6):779-782.
doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-20-0451. Epub 2020 Apr 10.

TMPRSS2 and COVID-19: Serendipity or Opportunity for Intervention?

Konrad H Stopsack  1 , Lorelei A Mucci  2 , Emmanuel S Antonarakis  3 , Peter S Nelson  4 , Philip W Kantoff  5
Affiliations
Review

TMPRSS2 and COVID-19: Serendipity or Opportunity for Intervention?

Konrad H Stopsack et al. Cancer Discov. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

TMPRSS2 is both the most frequently altered gene in primary prostate cancer and a critical factor enabling cellular infection by coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2. The modulation of its expression by sex steroids could contribute to the male predominance of severe infections, and given that TMPRSS2 has no known indispensable functions, and inhibitors are available, it is an appealing target for prevention or treatment of respiratory viral infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

As of April 9, 2020, E.S.A. is a paid consultant/advisor to Janssen, Astellas, Sanofi, Dendreon, Pfizer, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Clovis, and Merck; he has received research funding to his institution from Janssen, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Dendreon, Genentech, Novartis, Tokai, Bristol Myers-Squibb, AstraZeneca, Clovis, and Merck; and he is the co-inventor of a biomarker technology that has been licensed to Qiagen. P.S. Nelson is a consultant/scientific advisory board member for Astellas and Janssen and reports other remuneration by Veneble/Fitzpatrick. P.W. Kantoff reports the following disclosures for the last 24-month period: he has investment interest in Context Therapeutics LLC, DRGT, Placon, Seer Biosciences, he is a company board member for Context Therapeutics LLC, and is a consultant/scientific advisory board member for Bavarian Nordic Immunotherapeutics, DRGT, GE Healthcare, Janssen, OncoCellMDX, Progenity, Seer Biosciences and Tarveda Therapeutics, and serves on data safety monitoring boards for Genentech/Roche and Merck. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
TMPRSS2 mRNA and TMPRSS2 protein expression in humans. A, TMPRSS2 lung expression is localized to type 2 alveolar cells (P2), alveolar macrophages (Mp) and bronchial epithelial cells (Br). B, TMPRSS2 expression is similar in men and women. C, TMPRSS2 is expressed in several human tissues. Levels in prostate, lung, and liver are highlighted. A is from (12), reused under the CC-BY license. Data for B and C are from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project, version 8, showing log10 of RNA transcripts per million (TPM) + 1; boxes span interquartile ranges, thick lines indicate medians.
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