They help determine whether the treatment is safe, whether the dose is appropriate, and whether any adjustments are needed. When these markers rise too high, the blood can become thicker than normal. This situation is called erythrocytosis, which is common in people using TRT. Doctors measure hemoglobin in grams per deciliter (g/dL). Vision problems occur when thick blood reduces the flow of oxygen to the eyes. Some people notice that their face looks redder after exercise, after being in warm rooms, or after drinking alcohol. High hemoglobin can cause a flushed or ruddy appearance, especially on the face. A hematocrit level between 50% and 52% is usually considered mildly elevated. When this percentage rises too high, the blood becomes thicker and moves less easily through blood vessels. With proper monitoring and timely adjustments, most people can continue TRT safely without major problems. Regular blood tests help doctors track changes early. AR and ESRa antibody concentrations were established on the cell line MCF7 (ATCC); the specificity of AR antibody was also verified using a competitive displacement approach on MCF7 cells. Horizon Brilliant Stain Buffer Plus (BD Biosciences) and all-antibody cocktail (Supplementary Table 4) were added, and cells were incubated overnight at 4 °C. For AR staining, WBCs from heparinized whole blood were prepared using a Cytodelics kit, and 1.5 million fixed-permeabilized cells was aliquoted per test and exposed to FcR block (BD Biosciences) for 30 min at 4 °C. For linear mixed-effects models, the frequency of 35 immune subsets was modelled considering visit (baseline, 3 months and 12 months) and age as fixed effects, and participant ID as random effect. This analysis included investigating immune phenotypes using PAGA75 (see below) and examining the effects of testosterone on immune cell composition using a mixed-effects model with the lme4 package. We conclude that pDCs contract in vivo and adapt phenotypically and functionally, leading to attenuated IFN-I responses during testosterone therapy. We also found pDC phenotypic changes upon testosterone treatment (Fig. 2c), with surface expression of CD81 on pDCs increasing from 3 months (Fig. 2d,e). Serum concentrations of bioavailable testosterone increased to male reference range values (Fig. 1b), whereas oestradiol concentrations decreased from baseline to 3 months (Fig. 1c), as did progesterone concentrations (Fig. 1d). We performed longitudinal blood sampling of 23 trans men, who were assigned female sex at birth and undergoing masculinizing treatment with testosterone undecaonate starting at the age of 18–37 years. This is mediated by functional attenuation of type-I interferon responses in both plasmacytoid dendritic cells and monocytes. The British Nutrition Foundation outline the nutrients and their role in the immune system here. Resistance training is also an effective tool to help maximize testosterone secretion. As such, it is often advised that you look to enhance your natural production of testosterone before seeking synthetic options.
