Women are more susceptible to infection during ovulation
According to a recent Spanish study, presence of high levels of estradiol before ovulation reduces immune system effectiveness leading to growth and promotion of infection.
Researchers suppose that a woman's ovarian cycle plays a significant role in her susceptibility to infection, such as Candida albicans or other sexually transmitted diseases. This natural "dip" in immunity may be to allow spermatozoa to survive the threat of an immune response so it may fertilize an egg successfully.
Miguel Relloso, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Laboratorio de Inmunobiología Molecular at the Hospital Gregorio Marañón and Complutense University in Madrid, Spain, said:
"With the help of this study, we can explain why during ovulation women have a great risk of being infected with sexual transmitted diseases such as HIV or HPV."
The researchers used a mouse-model in their study. It indicated that the sex hormone, estradiol, increased susceptibility to systemic candidiasis (fungal infection). To show the effect of estradiol treatment on infection, the researchers used in vivo and ex vivo fungal infection models. Ovariectomized mice were treated with estradiol and subsequently pulsed with C. albicans. Estradiol-treated mice were more susceptible to the fungal infection and had lower Th17 immune response. The researchers identified dendritic cells as a target cells of estradiol and showed that estradiol treated dendritic cells were inefficient at triggering the Th17 immune response to C. albicans antigens.
John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology concluded:
"The next time you hear a woman saying that she is sick of men, you can add this to her list as another reason. This adaption which allows male sperm to survive long enough to fertilize an egg, can cause other types of infection."
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