Abstract
Objective
Findings on the associations between sex hormones and immune function are scarce and mixed, especially in women. To contribute to the understanding on how sex hormones and immune function interact, we analyzed relationships between testosterone, estradiol, and immune responses in women.
Methods
Two doses of hepatitis B vaccine were administered to a group of 55 healthy women. Venous blood samples were collected at three time points: before the first vaccination (time I), one month after the first vaccination (time II), and one month after the second vaccination (time III), to quantify sex hormone levels (i.e., testosterone and estradiol) and the production of antibodies in response to the hepatitis B vaccinations.
Results
Women’s immune response (i.e., the production of hepatitis B antibodies) was negatively associated with testosterone levels one month after the first vaccination and positively associated with estradiol levels one month after the second vaccination. A decrease in testosterone levels between time II and time III was also observed. No differences in estradiol levels over time were found.
Conclusion
Our results demonstrate negative associations between testosterone and immune responses in women as previously described for males of several animal species, including humans. There were also positive associations between estradiol and immune responses, highlighting the immunomodulatory role of sex hormones in women. Potential bidirectional effects between immune markers and sex hormones are discussed.
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Data Availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).
Notes
Results remained the same after performing the statistical analysis without four outliers (i.e., anti-HBs values higher than 20mIU/ml: rs = -0.288, p = 0.041).
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Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to all volunteers who participated in the study.
Funding
Javier I. Borráz-León was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología CONACYT through a 2020 postdoctoral fellowship grant. Indrikis A. Krams and Tatjana Krama were supported by grants by the Latvian Council of Science (lzp-2018/1-0393; lzp-2018/2–0057; lzp-2020/2-0271; lzp-2021/1-0277) and Estonian Research Council (PUT1223).
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Borráz-León, J.I., Luoto, S., Krams, I.A. et al. Testosterone, estradiol, and immune response in women. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology 8, 344–354 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-022-00201-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-022-00201-y