Department of Human Biology, University of Wroclaw, Kuźnicza 35, 50-138, Wrocław, Poland.
Institute of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Wroclaw, Przybyszewskiego 63/77, 51-148, Wrocław, Poland.
Sci Rep. 2018 May 9;8(1):7392. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-25694-0.
The observations that testosterone might be immunosuppressive, form the basis for the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH). According to ICHH only high-quality individuals can maintain high levels of testosterone and afford the physiological cost of hormone-derived immunosuppression. The animal and human studies that attempted to support the ICHH by precisely defined impairment of immunity associated with high testosterone levels are inconclusive. Furthermore, human studies have used only selected immune functions and varying testosterone fractions. This is the first study examining the relationship between multiple innate and adaptive immunity and serum levels of free testosterone, total testosterone, DHT and DHEA in ninety-seven healthy men. Free testosterone and marginally DHT levels were positively correlated with the strength of the influenza post-vaccination response. Total testosterone and DHEA showed no immunomodulatory properties. Our findings did not support ICHH assumptions about immunosuppressive function of androgens. In the affluent society studied here, men with higher levels of free testosterone could afford to invest more in adaptive immunity. Since the hormone-immune relationship is complex and may depend on multiple factors, including access to food resources, androgens should be treated as immunomodulators rather than implicit immunosuppressants.
这些观察结果表明，睾丸激素可能具有免疫抑制作用，这构成了免疫能力劣势假说（ICHH）的基础。根据 ICHH，只有高质量的个体才能维持高水平的睾丸激素，并承担激素衍生的免疫抑制的生理成本。试图通过与高睾丸激素水平相关的精确定义的免疫损伤来支持 ICHH 的动物和人体研究尚无定论。此外，人体研究仅使用了选择的免疫功能和不同的睾丸激素分数。这是第一项研究，研究了九十七名健康男性的游离睾丸激素、总睾丸激素、DHT 和 DHEA 血清水平与多种先天和适应性免疫之间的关系。游离睾丸激素和边缘 DHT 水平与流感疫苗接种后的反应强度呈正相关。总睾丸激素和 DHEA 没有表现出免疫调节特性。我们的研究结果不支持 ICHH 关于雄激素免疫抑制功能的假设。在我们研究的这个富裕社会中，具有更高游离睾丸激素水平的男性可以在适应性免疫上投入更多。由于激素-免疫关系复杂，可能取决于多种因素，包括获得食物资源，因此应将雄激素视为免疫调节剂，而不是潜在的免疫抑制剂。
