The Flu Vaccine Is Little Effect On Men

The Flu Vaccine Is Little Effect On Men.
The flu vaccine is less powerful for men than women, and researchers at Stanford University assume they've figured out why. The manful hormone testosterone causes genes in the immune pattern to produce fewer antibodies, or defense mechanisms, in response to the vaccine, they found. "Men, typically, do worse than women in vaccinated response to infection and vaccination," said Stanford research accessory David Furman, the lead study investigator.

For instance, men are more susceptible to bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic infection than women. And men's untouched systems don't reply as robustly as women's to vaccinations against flu, yellow fever, measles, hepatitis and many other diseases. For the study, published online Dec 23, 2013 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers analyzed the blood of nearly 90 adults after they received a seasonal flu shot.

Men with the highest testosterone levels had the worst effect to the flu vaccine across the board. Testosterone is tied to prototype manly fleshly characteristics, such as muscle strength, beard growth and risk-taking. "We found a set of genes in men that when activated caused a substandard response to the vaccine, but were not involved in female response. Some of these genes are regulated by testosterone".

It's testosterone's create on these genes that causes the poor vaccine response. "This has a lot of implications for vaccine development". Vaccine reaction might be better if men were given twice the dose, he suggested, or maybe if testosterone levels were reduced. The whole picture isn't unquestionably clear or simple. Men's weaker response to the flu vaccine is only seen for some strains of flu.

So "We don't be sure why". One expert doesn't think testosterone alone explains the disagreement in vaccine response between men and women. "There is more involved, but testosterone does affect the invulnerable response," said Dr Alan Mensch, medical director at North Shore-LIJ Plainview Hospital in Plainview, NY Mensch doesn't find credible it's necessary to increase vaccine doses for men. Rather, he thinks women can get by with a modulate dose.

And "There isn't a variation in the amount of protection from flu. Women just don't need as much vaccine". In this study, which active 53 women and 34 men, researchers found that, in general, women had a stronger antibody feedback to the vaccine. This was consistent with findings from other studies, the authors noted. However, men with proletariat testosterone levels had an antibody response similar to women.

Furman's team also noticed that the vigour of certain genes in men, but not women, was associated with a weakened antibody response to the flu vaccine. When they looked at masculine testosterone levels in relation to gene activity, they saw increased activation of the Module 52 genes in men with heinous testosterone levels. This resulted in reduced antibody creation for the flu, the researchers concluded.

But in women, activation levels of Module 52 genes had no significant conclusion on flu antibody levels, the study authors noted. Some Module 52 genes are known to be linked to the immune system. The connections between these genes and testosterone might be a quarry for further study and drug development.

One unanswered question is what evolutionary purpose is served by having testosterone connected to the insusceptible system. It's possible that an overly robust inoculated response might be more dangerous than the disease itself. For example, women with their robust immune responses are twice as odds-on as men to die from infections that invade the blood system check this out. So c a somewhat less robust immune system can be lifesaving for men, he suggested.