TY  -  JOUR
AU  -  Dupuis, Maria Luisa
AU  -  Maselli, Angela
AU  -  Pagano, Maria Teresa
AU  -  Pierdominici, Marina
AU  -  Ortona, Elena
T1  -  Immune response and autoimmune diseases: a matter of sex
PY  -  2019
Y1  -  2019-01-01
DO  -  10.1723/3148.31294
JO  -  The Italian Journal of Gender-Specific Medicine
JA  -  Ital J Gender-Specific Med
VL  -  5
IS  -  1
SP  -  11
EP  -  20
PB  -  Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore
SN  -  2612-3487
Y2  -  2026/05/01
UR  -  http://dx.doi.org/10.1723/3148.31294
N2  -  Summary. Immune response differs between women and men at many levels. In general, females mount stronger innate and adaptive immune responses in comparison to males. In particular, women show more effective phagocytosis and antigen presentation, stronger production of inflammatory cytokines, higher absolute number of CD4+ T cells, higher levels of circulating antibodies, in comparison to men. Genetic, epigenetic, hormonal and environmental factors contribute to sex differences in immune response. The strong immune response in women, on one hand, appears to be beneficial, leading to the reduction of pathogen load and accelerating pathogen clearance, but, on the other hand, it can be detrimental by causing autoimmune or inflammatory diseases. Accordingly, most autoimmune diseases are more prevalent in women than in men and symptoms, disease course and response to therapy may also differ between males and females. In this review, we discuss possible mechanisms for sex-specific differences in autoimmunity with a special focus on rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s syndrome, primary biliary cirrhosis, antiphospholipid syndrome, systemic sclerosis, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus.
ER  -