Heterosexual and Homosexual Partners Practising Unprotected Sex May Develop Allogeneic Immunity and to a Lesser Extent Tolerance
Figure 3
CD4+ T cell proliferation and regulatory cell expression in heterosexual partners practising unprotected or protected sex.
Analysis of the proliferative responses of T cells isolated from heterosexual partners practising either unprotected or protected sexual intercourse; the T cells were stimulated with the partners' or 3rd party monocytes. Allo-immunization or tolerization of (A) CD4+ T cells and (B) CD8+ T cells in heterosexual subjects practising unprotected sex (5 in each showed no change); (C) and (D) in those practising protected sex; 8 and 3 showed no change, respectively. (E) and (F) Percentage of T reg cells in the two respective cohorts; *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p = 0.001, ****p<0.0001.