Women are more susceptible to autoimmune diseases than men

Shreyas bhat, DY Patil School of biotechnology and bioinformatics

Rhonda Voskuhl a post-doctoral student at the national institute of health united states in mid-1990 observed the sex discrepancy for multiple sclerosis is twice in women as compared to men. Multiple Sclerosis is an infection that affects the cerebrum & central nervous system.

What are autoimmune diseases?

 It’s a condition in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its self-defenses. Our immune system fights different pathogens like bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. These pathogens are detected by our immune system and an army of cells are released against these pathogens. In autoimmunity, the body is not able to differentiate between self and foreign cells and attacks various parts of the body like joints, skin, tissue and produces autoantibodies which attacks healthy cells.

How was the discrepancy observed?

Many of the scientists in the mid-90s saw the sex discrepancy as an inconvenience and was considered as common but not considered why is it more common. Recent evidence has been found which reveals that more women are affected the men for most autoimmune diseases. Many theories support why this occurs but these three theories are more promising.

• Hormones 
• Extra X chromosome
• Pregnancy challenges

Hormones:

Hormones can help us better understand why symptoms for autoimmune diseases improve or degrade during different phases like puberty, menopause, pregnancy. For eg., the symptoms of multiple sclerosis drop by 70% during pregnancy as levels of estrogen increase, and when estrogen levels decrease reoccurrence of symptoms is observed it is still not clear whether it is due to high levels of estrogen or low levels of testosterone researcher are currently working on the effects of various hormones on the immune system.

Extra X chromosome:

Some researchers believe that the X chromosome is responsible as in a study female mice(XX) develop lupus more frequently as compared to male mice (XY) whereas all animals were engineered with same-sex organs and hormones. A possible explanation for this could be X chromosome is associated with immune infections and it is observed that 23% of X-linked are not deactivated. One of these genes TLR7 which escapes deactivation is associated with lupus development.

Pregnancy challenges:

Some researchers also believe that as female bodies are evolutionarily developed in such a way to produce a foreign body inside their body without activating the immune system during different stages of pregnancy cycles of inflammation is observed inflammation increase during the first and third trimester and decreases during the second trimester. Hormone fluctuations are more prominent in females due to various evolutionary challenges. It is also being associated with the lifestyle and also with interaction with the placenta as it produces a strong anti-inflammatory oestriol. Thus no of children by an individual also can be considered as a factor as an increase or decrease in exposure to the placenta is also considered a crucial factor to elevate the risk of autoimmune diseases.

Now researchers are planning to investigate the age perspective and also the sex discrepancy as it would give us a broader perspective in the treatment of male as well as female patients.

Also read: Transcriptome-wide study of Botrychium lunaria fern

 References:

1. Sohn, E. (2021). Why autoimmunity is most common in women. Nature, 595(7867), S51–S53. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01836-9
2. Voskuhl, R. R. (2020). The effect of sex on multiple sclerosis risk and disease progression. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 26(5), 554–560. https://doi.org/10.1177/1352458519892491

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Author info:

Shreyas Bhat currently pursuing an MSc in Biotechnology from DY Patil School of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics. My area of interest includes quantum physics, astronomy, biosciences which do not match with my qualification but science, in general, has a greater pull and is always open to exploring various branches of science.