Women, Immunology, Nutrition and Exercise (WINE project): An approach to female physiology focusing on sex hormone receptors and monocyte morphofunctionality according to reproductive phases

• Grant number: 23/13470-7
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2030
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Metabolism and Bioenergetics
• Principal Investigator: Barbara de Moura Mello Antunes
• Grantee: Barbara de Moura Mello Antunes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Presidente Prudente. Presidente Prudente , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Alessandra Peres ; Amanda Veiga Sardeli ; Claudia Regina Cavaglieri ; Helena Angélica Pereira Batatinha ; Lila Missae Oyama ; Nicolette Bishop ; Valéria Leme Gonçalves Panissa
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/12659-4 - Women, Immunology, Nutrition and Exercise (WINE project): An approach to female physiology focusing on sex hormone receptors and monocyte morphofunctionality according to reproductive phases, BP.JP

Abstract

Sex hormones are known to interact with the immune system on multiple levels given that sex hormone receptors (SHRs) have been found in several types of immune cells including mononuclear cells. Nonetheless, it is not clear how the level of physical fitness may control the inflammatory response in women at different stages of their reproductive life. In this sense, information on how the inflammatory response is modulated in the different female physiological cycles and how the practice of physical exercise can act as a regulatory factor is incipient. Thus, the purpose of the present project will be to investigate how hormone concentrations in different female reproductive phases modulate the inflammatory response via sex hormone receptors in monocytes of women with different fitness levels. In this perspective, the present research will be divided into two steps in order to investigate the inflammatory response according to the different reproductive cycle phases. Phase 1 will be conducted with women in the reproductive phase (18-35 years) classified as insufficiently active, sufficiently active or overactively active in order to analyze the impacts of the hormonal fluctuation during the follicular, ovulation and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. Phase 2 will be conducted with women of the three main reproductive phases (pre-menopause (40-45 years), menopause (50-55 years) and post-menopause (above 60 years) classified as insufficiently active, sufficiently active or overactively active in order to investigate the effects of hormonal changes and/or reductions. Both phases will consist of four specific studies performed in vivo and/or in vitro, with Study 1) a global inflammatory screening; Study 2) an in vitro dose-response assay with THP-1 cells (human monocytic cell line), followed by reproduction in human cells; Study 3) an in vitro assay with THP-1 cells, followed by reproduction in human cells; and Study 4) an in vitro assay with human monocyte in order to prove possible "candidate compounds" (identified by OMICs analyzes in the Study 1) on the inflammatory response modulation in the different phases of the cycle or reproductive phases in sedentary women. (AU)