- The hormone suppresses immune cell production that triggers the condition
- Men have less of the cells in their lungs and therefore respond less to triggers
- The researchers hope the findings will lead to more targeted treatments
Alexandra Thompson Health Reporter For Mailonline
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Testosterone protects men from developing asthma, a new study reveals.
The hormone suppresses the production of a type of immune cell that triggers the condition.
Understanding the mechanism that drives the sex differences in asthma’s prevalence may lead to new treatment developments, the researchers claim.
Around 25 million Americans and five million Britons suffer from the respiratory disorder.
And asthma is twice as prevalent, as well as being more severe, in women than men.
Testosterone protects men from developing asthma and could explain why women are both more prone to the condition and suffer more severe symptoms, a new study reveals (stock)
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WHAT IS ASTHMA?
Asthma is a condition that affects your airways – the small tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs.
You are more likely to suffer if you have a family history of the disorder, have eczema or an allergy, or are exposed to second-hand smoke.
Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest.
Common triggers are exercise, pollen, cold weather and cigarette smoke.
There is no cure.
Patients are prescribed a reliever inhaler to relax the muscles in the airways when symptoms appear.
A preventer inhaler may be prescribed to reduce airway sensitivity so sufferers react less to triggers.
Source: Asthma UK
Study author Dr Cyril Seillet from Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, said: ‘Our research shows that high levels of testosterone in males protect them against the development of allergic asthma.
‘We identified that testosterone is a potent inhibitor of innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) – a newly-described immune cell that has been associated with the initiation of asthma.’
The researchers discovered that innate lymphoid cells ‘sensed’ testosterone and responded by halting cell production.
Dr Seillet said: ‘Testosterone directly acts on ILC2s by inhibiting their proliferation.
‘So in males, you have less ILC2s in the lungs and this directly correlates with the reduced severity of asthma.’
ILC2s are found in the lungs, skin and other organs.
They produce inflammatory proteins that can cause lung inflammation and damage in response to common triggers for asthma, such as pollen, dust mites, cigarette smoke and pet hair.
The researchers hope the findings, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, may lead to more targeted treatments.
Study author Professor Gabrielle Belz, from Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, said: ‘Current treatments for severe asthma, such as steroids, are very broad based and can have significant side effects.
‘This discovery provides us with a potential new way of treating asthma, by targeting the cells that are directly contributing to the development of allergic asthma.
‘While more research needs to be done, it does open up the possibility of mimicking this hormonal regulation of ILC2 populations as a way of treating or preventing asthma.
‘Similar tactics for targeting hormonal pathways have successfully been used for treating other diseases, such as breast cancer.’
This comes after researchers from McGill University, Montreal found asthma patients who use an inhaler have an 83 per cent higher risk of being hospitalised with pneumonia.
Breathing in the steroids in the inhalers is thought to be to blame.
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