Female sex hormone, progesterone, ameliorates the severity of SARS-CoV-2-caused pneumonia in the Syrian hamster model
Female sex hormone, progesterone, ameliorates the severity of SARS-CoV-2-caused pneumonia in the Syrian hamster model
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DOI：
10.1038/s41392-021-00860-5
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发表时间：
2022
影响因子：
39.3
通讯作者：
Xia Ningshao
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Yuan Lunzhi;Zhu Huachen;Wu Kun;Zhou Ming;Ma Jian;Chen Rirong;Tang Qiyi;Cheng Tong;Guan Yi;Xia Ningshao
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected more than 260 million people worldwide and causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with clinical spectrum ranging from mild to severe pneumonia. Recent clinical trials and experimental animal studies demonstrated that the severity of COVID-19 is lower in the females than in males. However, it is unclear whether sex hormones are associated with disease severity in COVID-19 patients. Previously, the anti-inflammatory effects of progesterone, a major female sex hormone, were observed in patients who suffered from the influenza virus-infected diseases.2,3 In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of progesterone in the Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection-caused lung pathogenesis. In order to model the male COVID-19 patients with severe pneumonia, male hamsters were intranasally infected with 1 × 10~4 plaque-forming unit (PFU) of SARS-CoV-2 (Fig. 1a). The SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters were untreated or treated with 1-, 3- or 5-dose of progesterone (1 mg/ kg per dose) via intraperitoneal injection (Fig. 1a). All of the hamsters with or without progesterone therapy survived throughout the infection course. The SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters without progesterone treatment exhibited progressive body weight loss of up to 12.6 ± 1.1% from 1 to 7 days post infection (dpi) (Fig. 1b). However, the SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters treated with 1-, 3- or 5-dose of progesterone exhibited body weight loss of 9.6±0.9%, 6.7± 1.1% or 5.1 ± 1.2% at 7 dpi, respectively (Fig. 1b). The uninfected hamsters with or without 5-dose of progesterone treatment showed a body weight increase from 0 to 7 dpi (Fig. 1b). These data suggested that progesterone rescued the body weight loss of the SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters in a dose-dependent manner.
