BIO O24 | BIOCHEMISTRY (LECTURE)

NAME: GALANG, JAMES LORD CABALDE COURSE/YEAR/SEC: BSN1-7

STUDENT NO.: 06-2223-033218 PHINMA E-MAIL: jalo.galang.sjc@phinmaed.com

“SEX HORMONES DETERMINE IMMUNE RESPONSE”

Hormones are chemicals that assist your body to collaborate diverse uses by transporting
communications through your blood to your organs, skin, muscles, and other tissues. These signals instruct
your body on what to do and when. Hormones are necessary for life and health. Hormones impact and restrict
hundreds of body processes. A bodily process involves multiple chain reactions of several hormonal changes.
A hormone will only act on a specific part of your body if it "fits," or if the cells in the therapeutic agent have
receptors that receive the hormone's message. The hormone will transmit a signal that causes the target site to
take a specific action if it fits the lock (receptor) on the cell wall, there are many types of hormones regulating
inside of our body including sex hormones. Sex hormones appear to be important modulators of autoimmune
disease onset/perpetuation. In general, steroid hormones are involved in the immune response, with estrogens
acting as enhancers of at least humoral immunity and androgens and progesterone (as well as glucocorticoids)
acting as natural immunosuppressors.

Females and males have different energy consumption and nutritional needs, which are determined
by the interactions of environmental factors and sex hormones. Females have a greater ability to produce
antibodies, according to studies conducted in the early 1940s. Females enhanced immune reactivity aids in
the development of effective resistance to infection, making them less susceptible to viral infections. However,
immune-pathogenic effects and a predisposition to autoimmunity can result from hyperimmune responses.
Circadian rhythms of sex hormones also can regulate an immune response. Many hormones, including
cortisol, which is recognized to regulate T cell-mediated inflammation, have a circadian rhythm that peaks at
8:00 a.m. and gradually decreases levels as the day advances. The interaction of sex hormones with
environmental factors such as cigarette smoke and infections causes changeable comments in response in both
genders. There is growing evidence that sex hormones influence the microbial composition and the resulting
immune response through secondary metabolites binding to receptors such as estrogen receptors (ERs),
peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), and others. These differences in the immune response
can result in variations in disease phenotypes, with autoimmunity more common in females and cancer more
common in males.

It is stated that sex hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, and androgen can regulate our
immune response, which is beneficial to know. This article is very informative and helpful to us as individuals
because it increases our understanding of sex hormones and their benefits to our immune system. And, as far
as I know, having sex can produce more sex hormones like testosterone, which also play a significant role in
our immune response. The author gives important information about sex hormones that determines the
immune response.

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING | 1ST YEAR 1

 BIO O24 | BIOCHEMISTRY (LECTURE)

To sum up, everything that has been stated so far is that sex hormones play a significant role in
response to our immune system, and that females can produce more antibodies than males, which they have
androgens and estrogens, but having a predisposition to autoimmunity can result from the hyperimmune
response in our body.

REFERENCE/S:

Taneja, V. (2018). Sex Hormones Determine Immune Response. Frontiers.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2018.01931/full

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING | 1ST YEAR 2