ArticleCell stem cell2020
Androgen Signaling Regulates SARS-CoV-2 Receptor Levels and Is Associated with Severe COVID-19 Symptoms in Men.
Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph
Article in Cell stem cell, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 168 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
168citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
5.4field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
168 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 247 citations in OpenAlex.
- Advancing lung organoids toward clinical applications: a global perspective on research focus and future directions.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- When stem cells meet COVID-19: recent advances, challenges and future perspectives.Stem cell research & therapy · 2022Pooled it
- COVID-19 pandemic: insights into molecular mechanisms leading to sex-based differences in patient outcomes.Expert reviews in molecular medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Stem Cells as a Model of Study of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: A Systematic Review of the Literature.BioMed research international · 2021Pooled it
- On the whereabouts of SARS-CoV-2 in the human body: A systematic review.PLoS pathogens · 2020Pooled it
- A Phase 2 Trial of the Effect of Antiandrogen Therapy on COVID-19 Outcome: No Evidence of Benefit, Supported by Epidemiology and In Vitro Data.European urology · 2022Trial
- Common genetic mechanisms between obesity and COVID-19 severity: unravelling pleiotropic loci and biological pathways.Royal Society open science · 2026Article
- Organoids: From Bench to Bedside Applications.MedComm · 2026Review
- Sexual dimorphism of COVID-19 inspires drug repositioning and host-targeting immunotherapy for viral pneumonia.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Article
- Comparative Effects of Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonism on Organ Dysfunction in COVID-19-Associated ARDS.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Advances in human respiratory organoid models for studying the pathogenesis and intervention strategies of COVID-19.Virologica Sinica · 2026Review
- Post-Translational Modifications in Respiratory Virus Infection: Recent Insights into the Development of In Vitro Models.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants and vaccination on pediatric febrile seizures: a retrospective cohort study.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- TMPRSS2 Expression in Lung Tissue of Prostatic Adenocarcinoma Patients: Androgen Deprivation Therapy and Relevance to SARS-CoV-2 Infection.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Article
- A Vascularized Human Organ Chip Reveals SARS-CoV-2 Susceptibility in Developmentally Guided Tissue Maturation.Cellular and molecular bioengineering · 2025Article
- Prognostic Role of Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) in male patients hospitalized for COVID-19.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2025Article
- Sex bias determines MERS-CoV infection outcomes in a mouse model of differential pathogenicity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Repercussion of SARS-CoV-2 on the Sexual Function in Males: An Updated Review.Infectious disorders drug targets · 2025Review
- Review
108 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Update of
Authors and funding
24 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Ryan M SamuelEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Homa MajdEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Mikayla N RichterEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Zaniar GhazizadehDepartment of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA; Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
Seyedeh Maryam ZekavatProgram in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Program of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA; Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Albertas NavickasDepartment of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
Jonathan T RamirezEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Hosseinali AsgharianDepartment of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
Camille R SimoneauGladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
Luke R BonserDepartment of Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Kyung Duk KohDepartment of Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Miguel Garcia-KnightDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Michel TassettoDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Sara SunshineDepartment of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
Sina FarahvashiEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Ali KalantariEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Wei LiuProgram of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
Raul AndinoDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Hongyu ZhaoProgram of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
Pradeep NatarajanProgram in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
David J ErleDepartment of Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Melanie OttGladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Hani GoodarziDepartment of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA. Electronic address: hani.goodarzi@ucsf.edu.
Faranak FattahiEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Program in Craniofacial Biology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA. Electronic address: faranak.fattahi@ucsf.edu.
University of California, San Francisco · USYale University · USBroad Institute · USGladstone Institutes · US
Funding
Understanding Asthma EndotypesU19AI077439 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI David J Erle · 2008 to 2026
$41.1MPREDOCTORAL TRAINING IN DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGYT32HD007470 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI Todd Nystul · 1994 to 2026
$7.7MAirway epithelial cell gene regulation: new mechanisms and therapeutic strategiesR35HL145235 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI ERLE, DAVID J · 2019 to 2025
$6.8MClonal hematopoiesis in the Womens Health Initiative Memory StudyR01HL148565 · NHLBI · FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER · PI ALEXANDER P REINER, Eric A. Whitsel · 2019 to 2026
$5.9MClonal hematopoiesis in humans: determinants of development and progressionR01HL148050 · NHLBI · BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE · PI BALLANTYNE, CHRISTIE MITCHELL, NATARAJAN, PRADEEP · 2019 to 2022
$5.9MA new model of accelerated immune aging in HIV-infected drug usersDP1DA038043 · NIDA · J. DAVID GLADSTONE INSTITUTES · PI OTT, MELANIE MARIA · 2014 to 2019
$4.8MAn antisense RNA-mediated regulatory program that drives cancer metastasisR01CA240984 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI GOODARZI, HANI · 2019 to 2023
$2.5MModeling Neurodegenerative Disease Manifestations in Human Enteric NeuronsDP2NS116769 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI FATTAHI, FARANAK · 2019 to 2019
$2.4MTargeted regulation of transcript stability through RNA methylation and intron retentionR01GM123977 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI GOODARZI, HANI · 2017 to 2021
$2.0MHuman pluripotent stem cells for the study of gastrointestinal dysmotilityR01DK121169 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI FATTAHI, FARANAK · 2020 to 2024
$1.8MDissecting the impact of clonal hematopoiesis on atherosclerosis using multiscale 'omicsF30HL149180 · NHLBI · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI ZEKAVAT, SEYEDEH MARYAM · 2019 to 2021
$138kDeveloping Ribolog: A toolbox for comprehensive analysis of ribosome profiling dataF32GM133118 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI ASGHARIAN, HOSSEINALI · 2019 to 2020
$97kNCI NIH HHS R01 CA240984NHLBI NIH HHS F30 HL149180NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL148050NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL148565NHLBI NIH HHS R35 HL145235NIAID NIH HHS U19 AI077439NICHD NIH HHS T32 HD007470NIDA NIH HHS DP1 DA038043NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK121169NIGMS NIH HHS F32 GM133118NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM123977NINDS NIH HHS DP2 NS116769
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 infection has led to a global health crisis, and yet our understanding of the disease and potential treatment options remains limited. The infection occurs through binding of the virus with angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on the cell membrane. Here, we established a screening strategy to identify drugs that reduce ACE2 levels in human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived cardiac cells and lung organoids. Target analysis of hit compounds revealed androgen signaling as a key modulator of ACE2 levels. Treatment with antiandrogenic drugs reduced ACE2 expression and protected hESC-derived lung organoids against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Finally, clinical data on COVID-19 patients demonstrated that prostate diseases, which are linked to elevated androgen, are significant risk factors and that genetic variants that increase androgen levels are associated with higher disease severity. These findings offer insights on the mechanism of disproportionate disease susceptibility in men and identify antiandrogenic drugs as candidate therapeutics for COVID-19.
Indexed as
Patient AcuitySignal TransductionAdultAndrogen AntagonistsAndrogensAngiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme InhibitorsAnimalsAntiviral AgentsCells, CulturedChlorocebus aethiopsCOVID-19COVID-19 Drug TreatmentDrug Evaluation, PreclinicalFemaleHumansACE2 protein, humanAndrogen AntagonistsAndrogensAngiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme InhibitorsAntiviral AgentsReceptors, Coronavirus5-alpha reductase inhibitorsACE2 regulationCOVID-19 risk factorsCOVID-19 sex biasdeep learningdrug re-purposinghigh content screeninghPSC-based disease modelingSARS-CoV-2 infection modelvirtual drug screen
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.