The testosterone protects men against the development ofasthma. At puberty, twice as many women are affected by this pathology, according to the results of a study published in the journal Journal of experimental medicine. The male sex hormone suppresses the production of a type of immune cell that triggers allergic asthma. This discovery may lead to new, more targeted asthma treatments.
Testosterone prevents asthma from developing
ILC2 cells are found in the lungs, skin and other organs. They produce inflammatory proteins that can cause inflammation and lung damage in response to common triggers (the pollen, the mites, cigarette smoke and pets) for allergic asthma.
Dr Cyril Seillet and Professor Gabrielle Belz from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, along with Dr Jean-Charles Guéry and his team from the Center de Physiopathologie de Toulouse-Purpan, France found that lymphoid cells, or ILC2s, were targeted by testosterone which stopped their development.
“Testosterone acts directly on ILC2s by inhibiting their proliferation,” said Dr Seillet. “So men have less ILC2 in the lungs and this directly corresponds to less severe asthma.”
“This discovery offers us a potential new way of dealing withasthma, by targeting cells that directly contribute to the development of allergic asthma. Although more research is needed, this opens up the possibility of mimicking this hormonal regulation of ILC2. Similar tactics to target hormonal pathways have been used successfully to treat other diseases, such as breast cancer “, conclude the researchers.
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