Testosterone affects men's immune system

[POISrival]

http://www.issm.info/education-for-all/sexual-health-qa/can-a-mans-testosterone-levels-affect-his-immune-system

"Can a man’s testosterone levels affect his immune system?
It’s possible.

In January 2014, researchers from the Stanford School of Medicine published a study on testosterone and immunity. They discovered that men with higher levels of testosterone had a reduced immune response to the flu vaccine.

Past research has shown that women often have stronger immune responses to bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections than men. Women’s responses to certain vaccines, like flu, measles, and hepatitis also tend to be stronger. Scientists are not sure why.

The Stanford study involved 53 women and 34 men of various ages. The participants had been part of ongoing research since 2008. Each year, they had their blood drawn before and after receiving an annual flu vaccine.

To determine the strength of the participants’ immune systems, the researchers looked at levels of antibodies. Antibodies are proteins that fight harmful substances when they enter the body. A flu vaccine contains dead viruses that cannot give a person the flu. However, the body’s immune system still recognizes these killed viruses as threats and builds up antibodies.

The researchers found that the women had a stronger antibody response to the flu vaccine than the men. Men with lower testosterone levels had a similar response.

However, men with higher testosterone levels had a weaker response. The researchers explained that testosterone appears to interact with a particular set of genes called Module 52 genes. This interaction may hinder immune response.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "

[POISrival]

Our immune system probably develops dependance on testosterone(ie. The immune system is ccontinously inhibited with testosterone) With orgasm, testosterone levels drop and the immune system gets overly active.

[Philt]

So testosterone therapy essentially increases immunity. L.

[POISrival]

So testosterone therapy essentially increases immunity. L.

It inhibits immunity.
Imagine there is a guy who has to fight enemies. Between him and those enemies a heavy door he has to push everyday. Eventually, the guy gets stronger to be able to push that door so he can fight his enemies. Suddenly the door disappears, the now strong guy will become a non stopable beast who will attack his enemies and his friends too. The guy is the immunity system and the door is testosterone.

[BluesBrother]

This recent article contains a discussion of the immunology of the male reproductive tract.

Nguyen, Philip V., Jessica K. Kafka, Victor H. Ferreira, Kristy Roth, and Charu Kaushic. "Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses in Male and Female Reproductive Tracts in Homeostasis and Following HIV Infection." Cellular & Molecular Immunology 11, no. 5 (September 2014): 410?27. doi:10.1038/cmi.2014.41.

http://www.nature.com/cmi/journal/v11/n5/abs/cmi201441a.html

There is also a part which refers to the role of testosterone.

"Androgens, namely testosterone, have immunosuppressive functions and have been shown to reduce TLR-4 expression in testicular macrophages. High local testosterone concentrations are likely to be involved in the maintenance of testicular immune privilege. Testosterone plays an immunomodulatory role by regulating the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine expression in SCs, Leydig cells and MPCs, but it likely does not directly affect testicular leukocytes because androgen receptor expression levels have not been found in testicular immune cells. In a study by Meng et al., androgens were shown to regulate the permeability of the blood-testes barrier by regulating the expression of Claudin 3, a tight junction protein found in SC."