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"Researchers have long known that women are more likely to develop autoimmune disorders than men, though they’ve struggled to fully understand why. Now a new study in mice suggests a key part of the answer may be that an RNA molecule that’s indispensable for female survival steers the body toward immune friendly fire".
"A team led by Stanford scientists found that Xist, a molecule that teams up with proteins to keep female cells from activating a double (and deadly) dose of X chromosome genes, can trigger antibodies that latch onto complexes of the RNA and its protein partners".
"Xist isn’t normally expressed in male cells, but to show that these complexes help drive autoimmunity, the authors created male mice that made Xist on demand. These animals were likely to show signs of autoimmune disease roughly as severe as in female mice".
“This is like a completely different and novel explanation for female bias in immune disease,” said Howard Chang, a Stanford physician-scientist and the study’s senior author. “What our study really showed was that it’s not just the second X chromosome, it’s actually a very special RNA that comes from that second X chromosome, and just that RNA perhaps plays a major role.”
"While many individual autoimmune disorders are rare, they’re together the third most common disease category after cancer and heart disease and affect about 8% of the population. The sex bias for these diseases is stark; four out of every five patients are female. In some cases, the imbalance is even more lopsided; 90 percent of lupus patients and 95% of those with Sjögren’s syndrome are female".
"Researchers have identified many potential explanations. Autoimmunity typically kicks in after puberty, suggesting that sex hormones play an important role, a theory supported by past research. The X chromosome itself is another potential culprit, as females carry two copies while males have one — well, most of the time. People with Klinefelter’s syndrome have two X’s and one Y, and, while they are biologically male, have an increased risk of autoimmunity compared to XY males".
another aspect of the female 'privilege'
wow, being a woman really sucks
that being said, thank you for sharing the knowledge. i love learning about this stuff. i find DNA and such fascinating. i'm curious to know what actually triggers the problem.