The influence of ovarian hormones on the mucosal proteome of the female genital tract & the implications for HIV susceptibility in women
| dc.contributor.author | Birse, Kenzie | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Coombs, Kevin (Medical Microbiology) Moffatt, Dana (Internal Medicine) | en_US |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Burgener, Adam (Medical Microbiology) Ball, Blake (Medical Microbiology) | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2016-01-13T21:41:31Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2016-01-13T21:41:31Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2015 | |
| dc.degree.discipline | Medical Microbiology | en_US |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Science (M.Sc.) | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Increased HIV susceptibility has been associated with the progesterone-dominant luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and the use of progesterone-only contraceptives, yet the mechanism is poorly understood. Here, we performed mass spectrometry-based analyses of cervicovaginal fluids collected from women with differing ovarian hormone levels as demonstrated by menstrual cycle phase or exogenous progesterone-only contraceptive use. We found that proteins associated with maintaining the integrity of epithelial barrier were enriched during times of high estradiol, whereas during times of high progesterone, there was a loss of barrier integrity proteins and an enrichment of proteins with known roles in inflammatory processes including leukocyte infiltration. Progesterone-based proteomic profiles were also strongly associated with neutrophil signatures with some evidence of CD4+ T cell signatures. This study generates new hypotheses about the potential mechanisms of hormone-associated HIV susceptibility including a weakened epithelial barrier and increased HIV target cell recruitment during times of increased progesterone. | en_US |
| dc.description.note | February 2016 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/31054 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.rights | open access | en_US |
| dc.subject | Ovarian hormones, HIV susceptibility, Progesterone, Estradiol, Women's health | en_US |
| dc.title | The influence of ovarian hormones on the mucosal proteome of the female genital tract & the implications for HIV susceptibility in women | en_US |
| dc.type | master thesis | en_US |