The Functional Significance of Endocrine-immune Interactions in Health and Disease

Abstract

Hormones are known to influence various body systems that include skeletal, cardiac, digestive, excretory, and immune systems. Emerging investigations suggest the key role played by secretions of endocrine glands in immune cell differentiation, proliferation, activation, and memory attributes of the immune system. The link between steroid hormones such as glucocorticoids and inflammation is widely known. However, the role of peptide hormones and amino acid derivatives such as growth and thyroid hormones, prolactin, dopamine, and thymopoietin in regulating the functioning of the immune system remains unclear. Here, we reviewed the findings pertinent to the functional role of hormone-immune interactions in health and disease and proposed perspective directions for translational research in the field.

Transcriptome and Methylome Analysis Reveal Complex Cross-Talks between Thyroid Hormone and Glucocorticoid Signaling at Xenopus Metamorphosis

“…These systems are highly conserved in vertebrates [ 1 , 2 , 3 ], where they regulate similar processes across taxa ranging from fish to amphibians to birds and mammals [ 4 ]. Their action is very diverse [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], and both signalling pathways often cooperate in biological processes (e.g., during bone growth and differentiation [ 14 ], brain maturation [ 15 , 16 ], and liver metabolism [ 17 ]), where affecting one or the other signalling pathway results in various pathologies and developmental defects [ 5 , 18 , 19 ]. This is at the very heart of the biological question we ask, and we will list below some molecular details to highlight some sources of functional interactions between pathways.…”

Ecological relationships among habitat type, food nutrients, parasites and hormones in wild boar Sus scrofa during winter

“…Memory T cells are important for host resistance to parasites (Brake 2003). This trend may be because thyroid hormones are capable of increasing memory T cells that could play a key role in immunological memory (Muthusami et al 2020). Moreover, thyroid hormones are key regulators of metabolism (Fair et al 2011); therefore, the baseline of fecal T3 data, which reflect an individual's metabolic characteristics, could be used to unveil physiological status (Hu et al 2018).…”

“…The availability of nutrients in the diet can also influence hormone levels (Gibson et al 1999, Benedict et al 2005). Hormones can influence various body systems, including the skeletal, cardiac, digestive, excretory and immune systems (Muthusami et al 2020). Thyroid hormone is an indirect indicator for measuring nutritional status and monitoring metabolism (Wasser et al 2010).…”

Prolactin Increases the Frequency of Follicular T Helper Cells with Enhanced IL21 Secretion and OX40 Expression in Lupus-Prone MRL/lpr Mice

“…The endocrine system produces hormones that regulate different systems, one of them being the immune system [43]. The bidirectional interactions between the endocrine and immune systems play critical roles in the maintenance of homeostasis.…”