The immune privilege of testis and gravid uterus: Same difference?

Arck, Petra C.; Solano, María Emilia; Walecki, Magdalena; Meinhardt, Andreas

doi:10.1016/j.mce.2013.09.022

Cited by 39 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 183 publications

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“…Also, in non-human mammals, there is increasing evidence of an association between the concentration of the systemic progesterone and an early embryo loss [52]. Progesterone is a physiological regulator of sperm motility and hyperactivation [53], and has also an immunomodulatory role and is involved in processes related to the maternal immuno-tolerance of the fetus [54,55].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apolipoprotein E ( ApoE ) polymorphism is related to differences in potential fertility in women: a case of antagonistic pleiotropy?

et al. 2015

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The alleles that are detrimental to health, especially in older age, are thought to persist in populations because they also confer some benefits for individuals (through antagonistic pleiotropy). The ApoE4 allele at the ApoE locus, encoding apolipoprotein E (ApoE), significantly increases risk of poor health, and yet it is present in many populations at relatively high frequencies. Why has it not been replaced by natural selection with the health-beneficial ApoE3 allele? ApoE is a major supplier of cholesterol precursor for the production of ovarian oestrogen and progesterone, thus ApoE has been suggested as the potential candidate gene that may cause variation in reproductive performance. Our results support this hypothesis showing that in 117 regularly menstruating women those with genotypes with at least one ApoE4 allele had significantly higher levels of mean luteal progesterone (144.21 pmol l 21 ) than women with genotypes without ApoE4 (120.49 pmol l 21 ), which indicates higher potential fertility. The hormonal profiles were based on daily data for entire menstrual cycles. We suggest that the finding of higher progesterone in women with ApoE4 allele could provide first strong evidence for an evolutionary mechanism of maintaining the ancestral and health-worsening ApoE4 allele in human populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apolipoprotein E ( ApoE ) polymorphism is related to differences in potential fertility in women: a case of antagonistic pleiotropy?

et al. 2015

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“…SCs are connected to each other by tight junctions, forming the blood-testis barrier (BTB). The BTB plays an important role in protecting the developing spermatocytes from immune mediators (leukocytes and antibodies), toxins, pathogens, and nutritional fluctuations (Dym and Fawcett, 1970; Mital et al, 2011) and provides one of the mechanisms that maintain testis as an immune-privileged site (Arck et al, 2014). …”

Section: Testismentioning

confidence: 99%

Ferritin polarization and iron transport across monolayer epithelial barriers in mammals

et al. 2014

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Epithelial barriers are found in many tissues such as the intestine, kidney and brain where they separate the external environment from the body or a specific compartment from its periphery. Due to the tight junctions that connect epithelial barrier-cells (EBCs), the transport of compounds takes place nearly exclusively across the apical or basolateral membrane, the cell-body and the opposite membrane of the polarized EBC, and is regulated on numerous levels including barrier-specific adapted trafficking-machineries. Iron is an essential element but toxic at excess. Therefore, all iron-requiring organisms tightly regulate iron concentrations on systemic and cellular levels. In contrast to most cell types that control just their own iron homeostasis, EBCs also regulate homeostasis of the compartment they enclose or the body as a whole. Iron is transported across EBCs by specialized transporters such as the transferrin receptor and ferroportin. Recently, the iron storage protein ferritin was also attributed a role in the regulation of systemic iron homeostasis and we gathered evidence from the literature and original data that ferritin is polarized in EBC, suggesting also a role for ferritin in iron trafficking across EBCs.

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“…Previously, it has been shown that an accumulation of oxysterols are linked to chronic diseases involving inflammation such as atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative disease, and inflammatory bowel disease due to changes in cholesterol uptake or metabolism (Poli et al, 2013) and have been related to phagocyte functions of macrophages (Spann and Glass, 2013). Testosterone is known to function as a key molecule for local production of immunoregulatory factors that regulates the overall immune environment in the testes (Arck et al, 2014). This finding suggests that finasteride impacts the immune system and could potentially lead to a chronic inflammation or a change in the response to antigens.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%