GenderBiology.net

Gender Differences In The Aging Immune System

SOURCE:  Medical News Today

DATE: May 16, 2013

EXCERPT: "Women's immune systems age more slowly than men's, suggests research in BioMed Central's open access journal Immunity & Ageing. The slower decline in a woman's immune system may contribute to women living longer than men."  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Hirokawa K, Utsuyama M, Hayashi Y, Kitagawa M, Makinodan T, Fulop T. Slower immune system aging in women versus men in the Japanese population. Immun Ageing. 2013 May 15;10(1):19. 


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Study Reveals Function of 1000's of Autoantibodies in Blood

SOURCE:  Newswise

DATE: April 9, 2013

EXCERPT: "Research suggests a new immunology frontier with evidence that blood contains 1,000's of autoantibodies that bind specifically to antigens from all over the body, clear cellular debris from injury and disease and vary by age, gender and disease state.  ...

• Women have significantly more autoantibodies than men which may account for the higher incidence of autoimmune diseases among women."  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Acharya NK, Nagele EP, Han M, Nagele RG. Autoantibodies: double agents in human disease. Sci Transl Med. 2013 May 22;5(186):186fs19.


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The Reason Pregnant Women Are More Vulnerable To Certain Infections Is Likely Due To Progesterone

SOURCE:  Science Daily

DATE: February 28, 2013

EXCERPT:  "Women who are pregnant or using synthetic progesterone birth control injections have a conspicuous vulnerability to certain infections including malaria, Listeria, HIV, and herpes simplex virus. A new research report appearing in the March 2013 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology offers strong evidence for a possible explanation: the progesterone receptor, a pregnancy hormone sensor, targets a part of the immune system responsible for protection against these and other invaders. In addition to helping explain why some women are more vulnerable to certain infections, it also sheds light on why some autoimmune diseases, notably rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, often go into remission during pregnancy."   more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Hughes GC, Clark EA, Wong AH. The intracellular progesterone receptor regulates CD4+ T cells and T cell-dependent antibody responses. J Leukoc Biol. 2013 Mar;93(3):369-75.

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Metabolism Of Certain Drugs Varies Between Genders And May Be Reflected In Anti-HIV Drug Efficacy

SOURCE:  Medical News Today

DATE: August 12, 2012

EXCERPT: "Women comprise nearly half of the HIV-infected population worldwide, but these 15.5 million women tend to be under-represented in clinical trials of anti-HIV drug therapies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created a database from 40 clinical studies to assess gender differences in the efficacy of antiretroviral treatments. The results of this study are presented in an article in AIDS Patient Care and STDs, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the AIDS Patient Care and STDs website."  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Soon GG, Min M, Struble KA, Chan-Tack KM, Hammerstrom T, Qi K, Zhou S, Bhore R, Murray JS, Birnkrant DB. Meta-Analysis of Gender Differences in Efficacy Outcomes for HIV-Positive Subjects in Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials of Antiretroviral Therapy (2000-2008). AIDS Patient Care STDS. 2012 Aug;26(8):444-53.


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Parasite Tied to Self-Harm, Suicide Attempts

SOURCE: MedlinePlus (Reuters)

DATE:  July 6, 2012

EXCERPT: "Women who are infected with a common parasite may be more likely to hurt themselves or attempt suicide, ...  But it's reasonable, Postolache added, that the parasite could directly affect the brain, such as by making cells produce more or less of certain neurotransmitters that control mood and behavior.  "It's (also) possible that the immune system containing Toxoplasma gondii does it at the cost of affecting brain function," he told Reuters Health.  Underlying infection could trigger inflammation, Weiss explained, which might subtly alter brain chemistry. Postolache said more studies will be needed to further understand the link between toxoplasmosis and suicidal tendencies, including whether certain people with the infection are more prone to mood and behavior issues than others - because of the genetic factors, for example." more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Pedersen MG, Mortensen PB, Norgaard-Pedersen B, Postolache TT. Toxoplasma gondii Infection and Self-directed Violence in MothersToxoplasma Gondii and Self-directed Violence. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2012 Jul 2:1-8. doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2012.668.


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Slow Wound Healing In Women May Be Due To Estrogen

SOURCE: Medical News Today

DATE:  April 4, 2012

EXCERPT: "Estrogen causes wounds in women to heal slower than in men - who have lower levels of estrogen - says a new study published in the April 2012 issue of the FASEB Journal. In the report, scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, provide the first evidence that mild injury response in the eye is fundamentally different in males and females because of estrogen. This discovery provides new clues for successfully treating a wide range of inflammatory diseases such as dry eye disease, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and scleroderma."   more

 

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Wang SB, Hu KM, Seamon KJ, Mani V, Chen Y, Gronert K. Estrogen negatively regulates epithelial wound healing and protective lipid mediator circuits in the cornea. FASEB J. 2012 Apr;26(4):1506-16.

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Beyond Expectation -- Philippa “Pippa” Marrack has made some unanticipated discoveries about how the immune system functions in health and disease.

SOURCE:  The Scientist

DATE:  September 1, 2011

EXCERPT: "   ....   Marrack has started looking into why women are more susceptible to many autoimmune diseases than men. “The emphasis of genome-wide association studies has been on polymorphisms: can we look at people who have lupus and find they have a particular polymorphism that distinguishes them from people who don’t have lupus? Well, I thought, the X chromosome is the most common polymorphism in the population. So maybe there’s something intrinsically different about the immune systems of men and women—or male and female mice. We discovered that old female mice all have a collection of B cells not present in young mice or in old males. And when you stimulate these cells, they make autoantibodies against chromatin.” In mice, the proliferation of these B cells depends on a Toll-like receptor protein called Tlr7—which is encoded by a gene on the X chromosome. Marrack and her colleagues have found the same autoantibody-producing B cells in elderly women with rheumatoid arthritis or scleroderma, a finding they’re continuing to pursue.  ....  [Marrack] Discovered a subset of B cells—which sport a Toll-like receptor protein encoded on the X chromosome—that could help explain why women are
more susceptible to certain autoimmune diseases than men."   more

Gender Difference in Autoimmune Disease Explained by Newly Discovered B Cells

SOURCE: Medical News Today

DATE:  August 8, 2011

EXCERPT: "Researchers at National Jewish Health have discovered a type of cell that may contribute to autoimmune disease. The findings also suggest why diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis strike women more frequently than men."   more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Rubtsov AV, Rubtsova K, Fischer A, Meehan RT, Gillis JZ, Kappler JW, Marrack P. Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7)-driven accumulation of a novel CD11c+ B-cell population is important for the development of autoimmunity. Blood. 2011 Aug 4;118(5):1305-15.

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Sex differences journal publishes inflammatory response research

SOURCE:  Society for Women's Health Research

DATE:  July 12, 2011

EXCERPT: Biology of Sex Differences (BSD) recently published riveting research on sex differences of certain brain cells and their response to inflammation  ... "  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:
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Santos-Galindo M, Acaz-Fonseca E, Bellini MJ, Garcia-Segura LM. Sex differences in the inflammatory response of primary astrocytes to lipopolysaccharide. Biol Sex Differ. 2011 Jul 11;2:7.

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Immunity to the common cold virus: sex and age matter

SOURCE:  Medical News Today

DATE: June 23, 2011

EXCERPT: "Researchers in the UQ School of Medicine at Princess Alexandra Hospital have made an important discovery about how the immune system reacts to rhinoviruses, the viruses that usually cause the common cold.

The research team, led by Professor John Upham, found that young women make a much stronger immune response to rhinoviruses than young men. These differences disappear after menopause, so they are probably regulated by sex hormones."   more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Carroll ML, Yerkovich ST, Pritchard AL, Davies JM, Upham JW. Adaptive immunity to rhinoviruses: sex and age matter.
Respir Res. 2010 Dec 31;11:184.


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