Systems analysis of sex differences reveals an immunosuppressive role for testosterone in the response to influenza vaccination.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 111(2): 869-74, 2014 Jan 14.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-24367114
ABSTRACT
Females have generally more robust immune responses than males for reasons that are not well-understood. Here we used a systems analysis to investigate these differences by analyzing the neutralizing antibody response to a trivalent inactivated seasonal influenza vaccine (TIV) and a large number of immune system components, including serum cytokines and chemokines, blood cell subset frequencies, genome-wide gene expression, and cellular responses to diverse in vitro stimuli, in 53 females and 34 males of different ages. We found elevated antibody responses to TIV and expression of inflammatory cytokines in the serum of females compared with males regardless of age. This inflammatory profile correlated with the levels of phosphorylated STAT3 proteins in monocytes but not with the serological response to the vaccine. In contrast, using a machine learning approach, we identified a cluster of genes involved in lipid biosynthesis and previously shown to be up-regulated by testosterone that correlated with poor virus-neutralizing activity in men. Moreover, men with elevated serum testosterone levels and associated gene signatures exhibited the lowest antibody responses to TIV. These results demonstrate a strong association between androgens and genes involved in lipid metabolism, suggesting that these could be important drivers of the differences in immune responses between males and females.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Testosterona
/
Vacinas contra Influenza
/
Regulação da Expressão Gênica
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Caracteres Sexuais
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Metabolismo dos Lipídeos
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Anticorpos Neutralizantes
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Female
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Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Ano de publicação:
2014
Tipo de documento:
Article