More than just a pretty face? The relationship between immune function and perceived facial attractiveness

It has long been hypothesized that attractiveness provides a cue to a target's health and immunocompetence. However, much of the research testing this hypothesis has relied on a small number of indirect proxies of immune function and the results of this research have been mixed. Here, we build on this past research, examining the relationship between target attractiveness and: (a) self-reported health, (b) in vivo measures of inflammation and white blood cell count / composition, and (c) in vitro tests of targets' immune function, including (c1) leukocyte proliferation in response to immunological stimulants, (c2) phagocytosis of Escherichia coli bioparticles, (c3) NK cell-mediated lysis of target tumor cells, and (c4) Staphylococcus aureus growth in isolated plasma. Results revealed multiple, sometimes sex-differentiated, relationships between targets' immune function and others' perceptions of their attractiveness. Together, this work suggests complex, often sex-differentiated relationships between immune function, health, and attractiveness.

长期以来，学界一直存在这样的假说：外貌吸引力可作为个体健康与免疫能力的线索。然而，此前验证该假说的大量研究仅依赖少数几种免疫功能间接替代指标，且研究结果莫衷一是。本研究在既往研究基础上进行拓展，考察了个体外貌吸引力与以下指标的关联：(a) 自我报告健康状况；(b) 体内（in vivo）检测的炎症水平与白细胞计数及分类组成；(c) 个体免疫功能的体外（in vitro）检测实验，包括(c1) 免疫刺激剂（immunological stimulants）诱导下的白细胞增殖反应；(c2) 大肠杆菌（Escherichia coli）生物颗粒的吞噬活性；(c3) 自然杀伤细胞（NK cell）介导的靶肿瘤细胞裂解活性；(c4) 分离血浆中金黄色葡萄球菌（Staphylococcus aureus）的生长情况。研究结果显示，个体免疫功能与他人对其外貌吸引力的感知之间存在多重关联，且部分关联存在性别差异。综上，本研究表明免疫功能、健康状况与外貌吸引力之间存在复杂且通常具有性别差异的关联。