{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]],"date-time":"2026-07-10T02:04:43Z","timestamp":1783649083956,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,6]],"date-time":"2023-12-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1701820800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01AI123002\u201001A1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01AI123002\u201001A1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01AI128779"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01AI128779"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["American J Rep Immunol"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Problem<\/jats:title><jats:p>HIV susceptibility is linked to the penile immune milieu (particularly IL\u20108 levels) and microbiome. The effects of insertive vaginal sex itself on penile immunology and microbiota are not well described.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method of study<\/jats:title><jats:p>We compared the immune milieu and microbiology of the coronal sulcus (CS) and distal urethra in 47 uncircumcised Ugandan men reporting ever (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a042) or never (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a05) having had vaginal intercourse. Soluble immune factors were assayed by multiplex ELISA, and penile bacteria abundance by 16S rRNA qPCR and sequencing. Co\u2010primary endpoints were penile levels of IL\u20108 and soluble E\u2010cadherin.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Independent of classical STIs, men reporting prior vaginal sex demonstrated elevated IL\u20108 levels in both the coronal sulcus (1.78\u00a0vs. 0.81 log10\u00a0pg\/mL, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0.021) and urethra (2.93\u00a0vs. 2.30 log10\u00a0pg\/mL; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0.003), with a strong inverse relationship between urethral IL\u20108 levels and the time from last vaginal sex (<jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0\u20130.436; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0.004). Vaginal sex was also associated with elevated penile IL\u20101\u03b1\/\u03b2 and soluble E\u2010cadherin (sEcad), a marker of epithelial disruption. <jats:italic>Gardnerella vaginalis<\/jats:italic> (<jats:italic>Gv<\/jats:italic>) was only present in the penile microbiome of men reporting prior vaginal sex, and urethral <jats:italic>Gv<\/jats:italic> absolute abundance was strongly associated with urethral inflammation (<jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a00.556; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u00a0&lt;\u00a0.001); corynebacteria were enriched in the CS of men reporting no prior vaginal sex and were associated with reduced CS inflammation.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>Sexual intercourse was associated with sustained changes in penile immunology, potentially mediated through microbial alterations, in particular the urethral abundance of <jats:italic>G. vaginalis<\/jats:italic>. Future studies should further characterize the effects of sexual debut on penile bacteria and immunology.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/aji.13801","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,7]],"date-time":"2023-12-07T23:46:36Z","timestamp":1701992796000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Insertive vaginal sex is associated with altered penile immunology and enrichment of <i>Gardnerella vaginalis<\/i> in uncircumcised Ugandan men"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"91","author":[{"given":"Erin","family":"Day","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Departments of Immunology and Medicine University of Toronto  Ontario Canada"},{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Immunology Western University  Ontario Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ronald M.","family":"Galiwango","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departments of Immunology and Medicine University of Toronto  Ontario Canada"},{"name":"Rakai Health Sciences Program  Kalisizo Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"George Washington Milken Institute School of Public Health  Washington District of Columbia USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sanja","family":"Huibner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departments of Immunology and Medicine University of Toronto  Ontario Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maliha","family":"Aziz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"George Washington Milken Institute School of Public Health  Washington District of Columbia USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aggrey","family":"Anok","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Rakai Health Sciences Program  Kalisizo Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"James","family":"Nnamutete","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Rakai Health Sciences Program  Kalisizo Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yahaya","family":"Isabirye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Rakai Health Sciences Program  Kalisizo Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"John Bosco","family":"Wasswa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Rakai Health Sciences Program  Kalisizo Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Deo","family":"Male","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Rakai Health Sciences Program  Kalisizo Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Godfrey","family":"Kigozi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Rakai Health Sciences Program  Kalisizo Uganda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aaron A. R.","family":"Tobian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine  Baltimore Maryland USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jessica L.","family":"Prodger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Immunology Western University  Ontario Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cindy M.","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"George Washington Milken Institute School of Public Health  Washington District of Columbia USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1586-4093","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rupert","family":"Kaul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departments of Immunology and Medicine University of Toronto  Ontario Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_7_2_1","unstructured":"Joint United Nations Programme on HIV\/AIDS (UNAIDS). 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