Researchers have discovered how hormones profoundly affect our immune system, explaining why men and women are affected differently by diseases. This new knowledge could be used to develop new immunological drugs, the researchers say.
It has been known since the mid-20th century that differences exist between male and female immune systems, based on substantial statistical studies. Indeed, gender is one of the factors likely to influence our immune system, and therefore make us more or less prone to diseases, like our age, our infectious history or even our genetic heritage according to the details of the Pasteur Institute. For example, studies have shown that COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, seems to affect men more severely than women because more of them are admitted to intensive care and the disease causes a higher percentage of deaths. In addition, while men are more likely to be overweight, a known risk factor, scientists already know that women generally have a stronger immune system: they respond better to vaccines and often have a lower mortality rate due to infections. But COVID-19 is far from being the only example of a disease that affects men and women differently.
Because it is conversely established that depression and autoimmune diseases are more frequent in women… this is the case for example of systemic lupus erythematosus which would be nine times more likely to affect the latter. What are the mechanisms underlying these…
- Femina.fr
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