Though there are multiple factors causing infections, a new study conducted at UT Southwestern Medical Centre in Texas revealed the androgen (male sex hormone), which includes the testosterone, is also a factor in causing skin infections.
The sebaceous glands in the skin also produce hormones, which is accessible to the microbes present on the skin. Staphylococcus aureus is one such bacteria, which causes multiple infections, multiplies and becomes dense causing activation of a bacterial signaling system called as quorum sensing.The denser the bacterial concentration, the stronger the signal; bacteria becomes more virulent.
The study was also conducted using female sex hormones but they did not affect the quorum sensing of the bacteria.
Can we make use of the hormones as a vector for organisms to deliver drugs to a target region?
MBH/PS