Estrogen and Lupus: Exploring the Link Unique relationship identified between SLE, estrogen, and toll-like receptors

They proposed that estrogen increases activation of the immune system through upregulation of various genes and cytokines, including to toll-like receptor (TLR) 8, which is X-linked, involved in innate immunity, and has a known association with SLE. In experiments using peripheral blood mononuclear cells from lupus patients and healthy volunteers, his group found that TLR8 expression was significantly upregulated in cells from both males and females when stimulated with a synthetic TLR8 agonist, but that the effect was stronger in females and further enhanced with exposure to 17β-estradiol. They also observed that estrogen exposure led to an upregulation of other members of the endosomal subset of TLRs, including TLR3, 7, and 9. https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/oar/74787?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-08-28&eun=g721819d0r&pos=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-08-28&utm_term=Daily%20Headlines%20-%20Active%20User%20-%20180%20days