Increased systemic inflammation and altered distribution of T-cell subsets in postmenopausal women.

Publisher: Public Library of Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101285081 Publication Model: eCollection Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1932-6203 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19326203 NLM ISO Abbreviation: PLoS One Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science

Cytokines/*immunology ; Inflammation/*immunology ; Postmenopause/*immunology ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets/*immunology; Absorptiometry, Photon/methods ; Body Composition ; Cytokines/blood ; Cytokines/metabolism ; Female ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone/blood ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone/immunology ; Gonadal Steroid Hormones/blood ; Gonadal Steroid Hormones/immunology ; Humans ; Inflammation/blood ; Inflammation/metabolism ; Intra-Abdominal Fat/diagnostic imaging ; Intra-Abdominal Fat/immunology ; Intra-Abdominal Fat/metabolism ; Lymphocytes/cytology ; Lymphocytes/immunology ; Lymphocytes/metabolism ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods ; Middle Aged ; Monocytes/cytology ; Monocytes/immunology ; Monocytes/metabolism ; Multivariate Analysis ; Postmenopause/blood ; Postmenopause/metabolism ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets/cytology ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets/metabolism

Aim: To investigate markers of systemic inflammation in pre- and postmenopausal women and identify possible predictors of systemic inflammation with menopause.
Methods: Cross-sectional study of 69 healthy women between 45- and 60 years. Blood samples were collected to assess leukocyte subsets and plasma cytokines. MRI and DXA scans were performed to assess body composition. Through uni- and multivariate analyses, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), visceral fat mass and age were evaluated as predictors of systemic inflammation in relation to menopause.
Results: Postmenopausal women tended to have higher leukocyte counts (5.4 x109 vs. 4.9 x109 cells/l, p = 0.05) reflected in increased total lymphocytes (1.8 x109 vs. 1.6 x109 cells/l, p = 0.01) and monocytes (0.5 x109 vs. 0.4 x109 cells/l, p = 0.02), compared to premenopausal women. Increased visceral fat mass was a strong predictor of high leukocyte subsets. Postmenopausal women had higher plasma TNF-α (2.24 vs. 1.91 pg/ml, p = 0.01) and IL-6 (0.45 vs. 0.33 pg/ml, p = 0.004) compared to premenopausal women and high FSH was a significant predictor of increased plasma TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6. Menopause was further associated with increased T-cells (1,336 vs. 1,128 cells/μl, p = 0.04) reflected in significantly higher counts of exhausted-, senescent-, and memory CD4+ T-cell subsets.
Conclusions: Menopause is associated with increased systemic inflammation as well as exhausted- and senescent T-cells. We suggest, that both increased visceral fat mass and declining sex hormone levels might contribute to postmenopausal systemic inflammation and calls for further large-scale studies to confirm these findings.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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0 (Cytokines)
0 (Gonadal Steroid Hormones)
9002-68-0 (Follicle Stimulating Hormone)

Date Created: 20200624 Date Completed: 20200914 Latest Revision: 20200914

20231215

PMC7310708

10.1371/journal.pone.0235174

32574226