Enhanced immunological response by dendritic cells in male hypogonadism

Abstract

Eur J Clin Invest 2012; 42 (11): 1205–1212AbstractBackground The effect of male hypogonadism on the immune response is poorly understood, even though testosterone has both immunosuppressive and anti‐inflammatory effects in men.Design In this study, we compared the distribution and functional status of peripheral blood (PB) monocytes, dendritic cells (DCs) [CD16+ (monocytoid), CD33+ (myeloid) and CD33− (plasmacytoid)] and CD4+ CD25+ CD127−/lo regulatory T cells from hypogonadic men and control subjects. Immunophenotypic studies were performed both on resting and in vitro‐stimulated cells.Results Overall, no significant differences were detected on the number of monocytes, DCs and CD4+ CD25+ CD127−/lo regulatory T cells between both groups of subjects. However, hypogonadic men showed slightly higher numbers of circulating CD16+ cells expressing the CD107b activation/degranulation‐associated marker than controls, such differences reaching statistical significance after in vitro stimulation with CpG oligodeoxynucleotides. Interestingly, antigen‐stimulated expression of CD107b on CD16+ cells inversely correlated with the serum concentrations of total testosterone (r2 = −0·45; P = 0·01), free testosterone (r2 = −0·48; P = 0·005), calculated free testosterone (r2 = −0·44; P = 0·01) and bioavailable testosterone (r2 = −0·46; P = 0·008) among all cases studied, as well as with both the LH (r2 = −0·53, P = 0·04) and FSH (r2 = −0·54, P = 0·04) serum levels among hypogonadic men.Conclusions These findings show an enhanced immunological response of circulating (activated) CD16+ DCs to antigen stimulation, which was inversely related to testosterone and gonadotropin serum levels. Such findings suggest a modulation by the hypothalamic–hypophyseal–gonadal axis of the immune response and may have clinical implications for hypogonadic men, as regards susceptibility to autoimmune diseases and increased responses to antigenic stimuli.

Key Biomarkers

Symptom Clusters