One of the most important areas it influences is the blood. While TRT can help with these symptoms, it also affects many systems in the body. Many people use TRT to improve symptoms such as low energy, decreased muscle strength, low libido, and trouble with mood or concentration. Tanya Lewis is senior desk editor for health and medicine at Scientific American. In addition, high levels of TNF have been linked to embryo implantation failure and pregnancy loss. Women may have evolved a stronger antiviral immune response to protect fetuses from infection, but they can’t produce too strong an inflammatory response, or it could harm a fetus. One possible answer has to do with the fact that the female body invests a lot of resources in reproduction and pregnancy. We will need much larger numbers and longer follow-up." Landegren is now leading a study of transgender women who are taking female sex hormones that seeks to understand how that type of treatment may affect immune function. "We should just urge caution for people taking hormone therapies for any purpose," he says, "and make sure that we follow up to see that there are no health consequences that we don’t intend." Brodin would like to see better monitoring of all patients receiving hormone therapy, whether for gender-affirming care or other reasons, such as estrogen or testosterone supplementation in cisgender men and women. They then measured the resulting immune changes and found that testosterone appeared to be directly involved in the TNF response. This is because red blood cell changes often appear within the first few months. Lowering the dose reduces testosterone peaks, which often calms red blood cell production. These hematocrit limits are based on evidence about how thick blood can become before it raises health risks. Understanding the possible health risks helps people stay safe while continuing treatment. Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) can raise hemoglobin and hematocrit in many people. Knowing the factors that raise the risk of high hemoglobin helps both patients and healthcare providers plan safer treatment. However, there are no randomized trial data on the effects of exogenous testosterone on circulating leukocytes and platelets. Testosterone treatment corrects anemia of inflammation8 and unexplained anemia of the elderly5,9, and testosterone and other androgens were used to treat several non-ferropenic anemic states prior to the advent of erythropoietin10. Testosterone administration in men differentially increases neutrophil and monocyte counts. Researchers believe that when TRT is monitored properly, doctors can catch high hematocrit early and keep it within a safe range. Researchers have looked closely at whether TRT directly causes blood clots. Slow blood flow can increase the chance of platelets sticking together, which is the first step in forming a clot. Thicker blood moves more slowly through blood vessels. But the relationship between TRT-related erythrocytosis and blood clots is more complex than many think. This is why methods like gels, patches, and smaller, frequent injections tend to produce less dramatic increases in hemoglobin. This means rising hemoglobin cannot be corrected quickly without waiting for the hormone to wear off. Within three months, most of the transgender men’s testosterone levels entered the typical range for cisgender men while their estradiol (the most potent form of estrogen that is made in the body) and progesterone levels decreased. A recent study found that trans men taking testosterone had white blood cell changes that resembled cis men's immune system activity. The available research shows that testosterone does have a positive impact on white blood cells. This is because testosterone acts as an immunosuppressive hormone by polarizing the immune response towards cell-mediated responses. Does testosterone affect the white blood cell count? High monocyte counts have been suggested as a risk-factor for cardiovascular mortality and coronary artery plaque formation33. However, higher leukocyte counts, even within the normal range, are a risk-factor for ischemic heart disease, arterial thrombosis, and cardiovascular and cancer mortality16–18,30–32. We found increased expression of a T cell exhaustion gene module in CD8+ T cells dominated by TIGIT mRNA upregulation (Extended Data Fig. 5h). In 1889, Calzolari reported enlarged thymi in castrated male rabbits22 and many subsequent studies confirmed this inhibitory effect on thymic output in mice23 and humans24 through AR-expressing thymic epithelial cells25. SLAMF7 upregulation after LPS was stronger in either DHT- or Fulvestrant-pretreated cells, indicating a balance between androgens and oestrogens regulating this factor (Fig. 3i). Furthermore, as an alternative condition, we pretreated cells from the same donors with fulvestrant—a degrader of oestradiol-receptors (ESR) 1/2 (ESR1/2) to mimic the loss of ESR-mediated signals.