Table 1.

The Effects of Tamoxifen on Immunity

Model / patient population	Key observations
Studies in humans
Breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen	↓ Natural Killer cell activity [19, 20]
	↑ proliferation of lymphocytes in presence of mitogen [19]
	↓ number of CD4 lymphocytes [20]
Case reports of a patient with Riedel’s disease	Tamoxifen induced remission [21]
Case report of a patient with dermatomyositis rash	Tamoxifen induced remission [22]
In vivo animal models
Mice models that develop autoimmune diseases akin to systemic lupus erythematosus mice	Delayed onset of disease [24]
	↑ survival of tamoxifen treated mice [23, 25, 26]
	↓ proteinuria [23, 24, 25]
	↓ auto-antibody production [23, 25]
	↓ thrombocytopaenia [23, 24]
	Normal leukocyte count [24]
	↓ number of splenic B-cells [25]
	↓ serum tumor necrosis alpha levels [25]
	↓ lymphadenopathy [26]
	↓ renal disease on histopathological examination [23, 24, 25]
Murine autoimmune encephalitis	↓ disease symptoms [27]
	↓ degree of demyelination [27]
	↓ myelin-induced T-cell production [27]
	↓ ability of dendritic cells to stimulate myelin-specific T-cells [27]
	Differential effects on Th1 and Th2 cells with Th2 bias [27]
Autoimmune uveitis in rats	Delayed onset of disease [28]
	Differential effects on Th1 and Th2 cells with Th2 bias [28]
In vivo models
Human peripheral blood lymphocytes	↓ alloantigen-induced T-cell proliferation [15]
	↓ cytokine production [15]
Human monocyte-derived dendritic cells	Distinct phenotype (CD14−, CD1a−, CD80−, CD86+) [29]
	↓ capacity to induce proliferation amongst allogeneic T-cells [29]
	↓ production of interleukin 12 upon stimulation [29]
Human synovial fluid macrophages	Distinct phenotype (CD14−, CD1a−, CD80−, CD86+) [30]
	↓ capacity to induce proliferation amongst allogeneic T-cells [30]

Symbols ↑ = increase; ↓ = decrease.