ArticleThe Journal of infectious diseases2016
Loss of Innate Host Defense Following Unprotected Vaginal Sex.
Article in The Journal of infectious diseases, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Article
- Engineering a smart intrauterine device based on pH-controlled copper release.Bioengineering & translational medicine · 2025Article
- Drug and therapeutic intravaginal delivery targeting diseases in the female reproductive tract: A mathematical modeling perspective.Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society · 2025Review
- Immunomodulation of the Vaginal Ecosystem byNutrients · 2023Article
- Immune parameters of HIV susceptibility in the female genital tract before and after penile-vaginal sex.Communications medicine · 2022Article
- Vaginal pH Value for Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Vaginitis.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Article
- Immune biomarkers and anti-HIV activity in the reproductive tract of sexually active and sexually inactive adolescent girls.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2018Article
- Seminal plasma induces inflammation and enhances HIV-1 replication in human cervical tissue explants.PLoS pathogens · 2017Article
- The Antimicrobial Peptide Human Beta-Defensin-3 Is Induced by Platelet-Released Growth Factors in Primary Keratinocytes.Mediators of inflammation · 2017Article
- Characteristics of HIV target CD4 T cells collected using different sampling methods from the genital tract of HIV seronegative women.PloS one · 2017Article
- Longitudinal Assessment of Systemic and Genital Tract Inflammatory Markers and Endogenous Genital Tract E. coli Inhibitory Activity in HIV-Infected and Uninfected Women.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMultiple host defense mechanisms protect the female genital tract from pathogens, but the impact of sexual intercourse on defense is unknown.
methodsAs part of a hypothesis-generating study, 17 women provided cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) specimens at baseline (all had abstained from sexual intercourse, masturbation, and vaginal product use for 72 hours prior to screening), 2-6 hours and 10-14 hours after vaginal intercourse with a male condom, and 2-6 hours and 10-14 hours after vaginal intercourse without a male condom (5 visits total, including the baseline visit). Vaginal pH, concentrations of immune molecules, and antimicrobial activity at postcoital visits were compared to baseline values.
resultsVaginal pH and the transforming growth factor β1 level increased, but human beta-defensin 2 (HBD-2), HBD-3, and interleukin 8 levels decreased after unprotected sex. Median Escherichia coli inhibitory activity in CVL specimens decreased significantly from baseline at the visit 2-6 hours after unprotected sex (63% [range, -34% to 99%] vs 5% [range, -51% to 100%]; P = .02) and remained low at the visit 10-14 hours after unprotected sex (6% [range, -19% to 92%]; P = .02). Pooled human seminal plasma enhanced E. coli growth in vitro in a dose-dependent manner and, when added to CVL samples with high anti-E. coli activity, reversed the inhibition.
conclusionsUnprotected vaginal sex results in a reduction in endogenous anti-E. coli activity, which may reflect, in part, enhancement of bacterial growth by seminal plasma. This finding may contribute to the risk of E. coli vaginal colonization following sexual intercourse.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.