Table 1.

A summary of major findings from the primary research papers reviewed above.

Published	Author	Organism Studied	Major Findings
1972	Mohr et al.	C. neoformans	Growth of clinical isolates was inhibited when incubated with either a synthetic or natural human estrogen.
1973	Mohr et al.	C. neoformans	Estrogens, when combined with AmpB, markedly inhibited C. neoformans growth in vitro.
1974	Mohr et al.	Humans	Phagocytic activity increased and antigen titers decreased in cryptococcal meningitis patients administered synthetic estrogen.
2002	Lortholary et al.	Mice	Females had increased levels of the helpful Th1 cytokines TNF-α and IFN-γ in blood and spleen during C. neoformans infection.
2006	van den Berg et al.	C. elegans	Males were found to be more resistant to C. neoformans. This resistance was linked to increased activity of the DAF-16 stress-response transcription factor.
2007	Dromer et al.	Humans	Male gender was a major determinant of outcome during C. neoformans infection. Cryptococcosis was more severe in men.
2013	McClelland et al.	Mice, Humans	Spleens of male mice showed higher fungal burden than female mice after chronic cryptococcosis infection. Human males had higher CD4+ T cells yet had higher mortality rates. Macrophages isolated from females were more effective during a C. neoformans infection than male macrophages.