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Sex Differences Determined Not Simply By Gender |
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Researchers funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) have uncovered an inherent difference in the way the genes of males or females can be ‘switched off’ or silenced in the body’s developing immune system. This finding will have a significant impact on the way researchers approach diseases that have a disproportionate effect on one sex over the other, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis, which all occur more frequently in women than men.
The results of the study show that the sex chromosomes, XY in males and XX in females, have a highly significant influence on how hundreds of genes behave in males and females. Distinguishing characteristics between males and females, such as face shape or body outline are often been put down to either differences in development or hormones.
The research team, based at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre in London, found that more genes were switched off or ‘silenced’ in males rather than females. These differences could help explain how the body’s immune system can cause rather than prevent diseases and in the future help to tailor treatments for auto-immune diseases.
Article
published by health.am/sex/ |
