Two drugs currently under development for the treatment of aggressive prostate cancer would reportedly be tested to fight the deadliest response against COVID-19 infection, ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome).

An Advance Queensland Fellowship of approximately $150,000 has been awarded to Dr. Lisa Philp to test the drugs which she and Prof. Colleen Nelson, from QUT Faculty of Health School of Biomedical Science, are making to treat advanced prostate cancer which might also treat and or prevent ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome).

Dr. Philp and Prof. Nelson, along with their research team, based out of the Translational Research Institute, discovered that their research on two hormones, which are secreted by body fat, that regulate the growth of prostate cancer tumor in the body, might also be beneficial in driving the severe, rapid-onset lung inflammation which causes the death of critical COVID-19 patients.

Dr. Philp stated that the team had been working with two USA-based biotech companies to further their research on the novel drugs for Phase 1 clinical trial within prostate cancer patients.

Professor Nelson, who is also the Director of the Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre, Queensland, stated that the research team had been working on two new drugs that effectively target two fat hormones. One hormone that has anti-inflammatory effect, and another that is pro-inflammatory, each involved in prostate cancer progression.

Nelson further added that through the center’s knowledge and data of coronavirus research, the team came to the hypothesis that these drugs might be effective for ARDS treatment. Subsequently, the center rapidly put together new collaborations with ICU clinician-scientists at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and Princess Alexandra Hospital, and brought its existing industry partners in the new research area to test the hypotheses and move the research towards proof of principle in order to translate it into COVID-19 treatment as soon as possible.

Source credit: https://www.qut.edu.au/news?id=171029