Zwahlen, Michelle; Stute, Petra (2024). Impact of progesterone on the immune system in women: a systematic literature review. Archives of gynecology and obstetrics, 309(1), pp. 37-46. Springer 10.1007/s00404-023-06996-9
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PURPOSE
The immune system is influenced by many factors, including female sex hormones. The extent of this influence, however, is not completely understood so far. This systematic literature review aims at giving an overview of the existing concepts on how endogenous progesterone influences the female immune system along the menstrual cycle.
METHODS
The inclusion criteria were healthy female subjects in their reproductive age with a regular menstrual cycle. The exclusion criteria were exogenous progesterone, animal models, nonhealthy study populations and pregnancy. This led to 18 papers covered in this review. The search was performed using the databases EMBASE, Ovid MEDLINE and Epub, and the last search was conducted on September 18, 2020. Our findings were analyzed in four categories: cellular immune defense, humoral immune defense, objective and subjective clinical parameters.
RESULTS
We demonstrated that progesterone acts in an immunosuppressive way, favoring a Th-2-like cytokine profile. Further, we showed that progesterone inhibits mast cell degranulation and relaxes smooth muscle cells. Furthermore, we found supporting evidence for a so-called window of vulnerability after ovulation, where immune functions are lowered and mediated through progesterone.
CONCLUSION
The clinical relevance of these findings is not completely understood yet. As the sample sizes of included studies were rather small and the content of them was broad, further investigations are needed to define to which extent the described changes actually clinically meaningful, whether they are capable of influencing the female health and how these findings can be used to increase well-being.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Review Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Gynaecology |
UniBE Contributor: |
Stute, Petra |
Subjects: |
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health |
ISSN: |
1432-0711 |
Publisher: |
Springer |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Pubmed Import |
Date Deposited: |
20 Mar 2023 10:33 |
Last Modified: |
06 Jan 2024 00:11 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1007/s00404-023-06996-9 |
PubMed ID: |
36933040 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Endogenous progesterone Immune defence Immune system Menstrual cycle |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/180317 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/180317 |
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