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Comment by js1980 | Hacker News Reader

js1980

The original source for this scaremongering story is the report which you linked in #3 above. This supposed association has received wide coverage in Germany and is being debunked by official sources.

There has simply been a correlation between hypertensive/diabetic patients and graver Covid-19 symptoms. The article speculates that ACE2 inhibitors could be the cause. And Ibuprofen is not an ACE2 inhibitor in the real sense of the term.

If there really were a link, then common blood pressure and diabetes medication would be far more risky than ibuprofen.

However, it should also be noted that women express ACE2 more than men do. And yet women are known to have a lower mortality rate than me with respect to SARS-COV-2.

Correlation does not imply causality and the article is simply an unconfirmed hypothesis.

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None of what you just said is responsive to OP's question, which is simply wondering to what extent ibuprofen increases expression of ACE2.

When you say that a supposed association is being debunked, do you mean to say that the debunkers are citing research that ibuprofen does not increase ACE2 expression? Because that is the kind of debunking that would answer OP's question.

If the debunking is instead "people are spreading unfounded rumors, pay no attention", then maybe that's useful as a default posture to hold regarding unsubstantiated rumors, but it doesn't help anyone arrive at the truth of the matter.

> None of what you just said is responsive to OP's question, which is simply wondering to what extent ibuprofen increases expression of ACE2.

I had the same confusion. I eventually found a quote here (published today, not available at time of up-thread comments):

https://kvia.com/health/2020/03/17/france-says-ibuprofen-may...

> NSAIDs might affect how Covid-19 binds to human cells, according to Dr. Yogen Kanthi, assistant professor of cardiology at the University of Michigan, who studies inflammation. > > "There is data from basic science studies that have shown that Covid-19 itself binds to a protein at the surface of cells called ACE2,” he said. “There is a hypothetical risk that giving NSAIDs like ibuprofen could increase levels of ACE2 shown in animal models, but not in patients."

That's the best I can find searching for '"ibuprofen" "ace2"' or 'NSAID' or 'COX2' in place of 'ibuprofen', so maybe take it with a pinch of salt, and it's not even saying 'yes definite link'.

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