The above paper is very dense, and loaded with a ton of presumptions that you know the functions of the cells of the immune system. I don’t want to sound like a smart-ass, that is not my intention, but it was a tough read and made me have to review basic immunology stuff (I’m a physiology major).
Anyways, the paper deals with the roles androgens have on the immune system. My aim was to see the role of androgens in T-cells and B-cells. T-cells can either aid the B-cells, or devour foreign particles. B-cells make antibodies. It gets more complex than that, and there are sub-divisions within T-cells and B-cells, but there is no need to bombard this post with detail you can all read up on.
DHT binds to the androgen receptor (AR) for a longer period of time and causes a more powerful effect compared to testosterone. B-cells (and many other cells of the immune system) have ARs and bind DHT and Test. Now, the paper above goes into great depth about how a number of studies have found strong correlations between low testosterone and elevated numbers of B cells. B-cells make antibodies, remember? According to the paper, females also have larger incidence of autoimmune disease, and men with lower testosterone are also more likely to present with autoimmune disease.
Finasteride lowered the DHT in our systems. This in turn, (I am inducing this from the facts presented in the above paper), would make our immune proliferate more B-cells and other immune cells.
The point of this post was to present to you all strong evidence about the role of androgens in the immune system, and how, we more likely than not exhibited a large increase in B-cells during the DHT-blocking drugs we took. I can only theorize from there how we came to be symptomatic, but it’s complex and not worth throwing out stupid theories on here that have no evidence. In my opinion, our diseases and states of being are immune-mediated. But that is only an opinion, and that doesn’t matter in the face of laboratories and science haha. Also, very open to other theories, especially ones with previous literature and evidence.
There is also evidence of accutane and estrogen modulating the immune system, although I haven’t delved much into the material, and there is limited literature in the case of accutane.