Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate and norethisterone enanthate differentially impact T‐cell responses and expression of immunosuppressive markers

Problem Injectable contraceptive use may impact immune cell responsiveness and susceptibility to infection. We measured responsiveness of T‐cells from women before and after initiating depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) or norethisterone enanthate (Net‐En). Method of study Peripheral blood mononuclear cells collected from women aged 18‐34 years prior to, at steady state, and nadir concentrations after initiating DMPA (n = 30) or Net‐En (n = 36) and from women initiating copper intrauterine device (CU‐IUD; n = 32) were stimulated with phorbol myristate acetate and analyzed using flow cytometry. We evaluated percentage change in T‐cells expressing programmed cell death‐1 (PD‐1) and cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte associated protein‐4 (CTLA‐4). Results Compared to baseline, there were decreased numbers of CD4+CTLA4+ (P