Hyperuricemia-related erectile dysfunction: mechanistic links and a translational framework for integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine
5 affiliations
- 1School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine
- 2Wangqi Academy, National Institute of TCM Constitution and Preventive Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine
- 3Innovation Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences
- 4Zhongshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine
- 5School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Shandong University of Technology
Abstract
Hyperuricemia-associated erectile dysfunction (HUAED) is an emerging, heterogeneous comorbidity linked to metabolic dysregulation, chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and neurovascular dysfunction. Current evidence supports an epidemiological association between hyperuricemia (HUA) and erectile dysfunction (ED), but does not establish a uniform causal relationship. Mechanistic studies suggest that HUA may impair neural initiation and endothelial maintenance of erection, reduce nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, disturb soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC)/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signaling, activate inflammatory pathways, and alter cavernosal smooth-muscle tone. Direct human evidence for HUA-driven penile fibrosis remains limited. Western management currently treats hyperuricemia and ED according to their established indications, whereas traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been proposed as a complementary, multi-target research domain. We therefore synthesize epidemiological, clinical, and preclinical evidence and propose a hypothesis-generating prevention-regulation-repair framework organized around urate burden, inflammatory/oxidative stress, neurovascular function, and tissue integrity. The proposed TCM-biomedical mappings are translational analogies rather than established molecular equivalences, and the framework is not evidence that integrated Chinese and Western medicine is already effective for HUAED. HUAED-specific mechanistic studies and prospective trials are required.
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BibTeX
@article{huang2026hyperuricemiarelated,
title = {{Hyperuricemia-related erectile dysfunction: mechanistic links and a translational framework for integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine}},
author = {Shuo Huang and Yini Fang and Maojun Jiang and Yulin Zong and Yunzhi Zhang and Hanbo Ma and Linghui Zhu and Xi Zhang and Yunlong Yao and Yaxin Cao and Can Yang and Jianfeng Zeng and Lingru Li and Wenlong Sun and Yanfei Zheng},
journal = {Frontiers in Endocrinology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fendo.2026.1911364},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2026.1911364/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Hyperuricemia-related erectile dysfunction: mechanistic links and a translational framework for integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine
AU - Shuo Huang
AU - Yini Fang
AU - Maojun Jiang
AU - Yulin Zong
AU - Yunzhi Zhang
AU - Hanbo Ma
AU - Linghui Zhu
AU - Xi Zhang
AU - Yunlong Yao
AU - Yaxin Cao
AU - Can Yang
AU - Jianfeng Zeng
AU - Lingru Li
AU - Wenlong Sun
AU - Yanfei Zheng
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
JO - Frontiers in Endocrinology
DO - 10.3389/fendo.2026.1911364
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2026.1911364/full
AB - Hyperuricemia-associated erectile dysfunction (HUAED) is an emerging, heterogeneous comorbidity linked to metabolic dysregulation, chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and neurovascular dysfunction. Current evidence supports an epidemiological association between hyperuricemia (HUA) and erectile dysfunction (ED), but does not establish a uniform causal relationship. Mechanistic studies suggest that HUA may impair neural initiation and endothelial maintenance of erection, reduce nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, disturb soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC)/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signaling, activate inflammatory pathways, and alter cavernosal smooth-muscle tone. Direct human evidence for HUA-driven penile fibrosis remains limited. Western management currently treats hyperuricemia and ED according to their established indications, whereas traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been proposed as a complementary, multi-target research domain. We therefore synthesize epidemiological, clinical, and preclinical evidence and propose a hypothesis-generating prevention-regulation-repair framework organized around urate burden, inflammatory/oxidative stress, neurovascular function, and tissue integrity. The proposed TCM-biomedical mappings are translational analogies rather than established molecular equivalences, and the framework is not evidence that integrated Chinese and Western medicine is already effective for HUAED. HUAED-specific mechanistic studies and prospective trials are required.
SN - 1664-2392
ER -