Regulation of innate and adaptive immunity by the female sex hormones oestradiol and progesterone

doi:10.1016/S0928-8244(03)00202-5

If you are seeing this message, you may be experiencing temporary network problems. Please wait a few minutes and refresh the page. If the problem persists, you may wish to report it to your local Network Manager.

It is also possible that your web browser is not configured or not able to display style sheets. In this case, although the visual presentation will be degraded, the site should continue to be functional. We recommend using the latest version of Microsoft or Mozilla web browser to help minimise these problems.

Wiley InterScience

FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology

Volume 38 Issue 1, Pages 13 - 22

Published Online: 9 Jan 2006

Published on behalf of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies

Go to Society Site

< Previous Abstract | Next Abstract >

Save Article to My Profile Download Citation Request Permissions

Abstract | References | Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 237K) | Related Articles | Citation Tracking

Regulation of innate and adaptive immunity by the female sex hormones oestradiol and progesterone

Kenneth W Beagley ^a, *, and Christine M Gockel ^b

^a School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, and Center for Biomolecular Vaccine Technology, Royal Newcastle Hospital, DMB323, Newcastle, NSW 2300, Australia ^b Department of Microbiology, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 (2) 49236157; Fax: +61 (2) 49236488, E-mail address: ken.beagley@newcastle.edu.au

KEYWORDS

Estradiol • Progesterone • Immunoglobulin • Lymphocyte • Innate immunity • Uterus • Vagina • STD • sexually transmitted disease • FRT • female reproductive tract • TLR • Toll-like receptor • PAMP • pathogen-associated molecular pattern • SLPI • secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor • NK • natural killer • uNK • uterine natural killer • IFNγ • interferon γ • APC • antigen-presenting cell • DC • dendritic cell • EAE • experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis • OVA • ovalbumin • CTL • cytotoxic T lymphocyte • ASC • antibody secreting cell • PBMC • peripheral blood mononuclear cells • MS • multiple sclerosis • RA • rheumatoid arthritis

ABSTRACT

Women mount more vigorous antibody- and cell-mediated immune responses following either infection or vaccination than men. The incidence of most autoimmune diseases is also higher in women than in men; however, during pregnancy many autoimmune diseases go into remission, only to flare again in the early post-partum period. Successful pregnancy requires that the female immune system tolerate the presence of a semi-allogeneic graft for 9 months. Oral contraceptive use can increase susceptibility to certain genital tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases in women. Moreover, treatment of mice and rats with female sex hormones is required to establish animal models of genital tract Chlamydia, Neisseria and Mycoplasma infection. This review describes what is currently known about the effects of the female sex hormones oestradiol and progesterone on innate and adaptive immune responses in order to provide a framework for understanding these sex differences. Data from both human and animal studies will be reviewed.

Received 6 April 2003, Accepted 2 June 2003

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1016/S0928-8244(03)00202-5 About DOI