The influence of biological sex in human skeletal muscle transcriptome during ageing

Sex is a crucial biological variable, and influence of biological sex on the change of gene expression in ageing skeletal muscle has not yet been fully revealed. In this study, the mRNA expression profiles were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Key genes were identified by differential expression analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis. The gene set enrichment analysis software and Molecular Signatures Database were used for functional and enrichment analysis. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed using STRING and visualized in Cytoscape. The results were compared between female and male subgroups. Differentially expressed genes and enriched pathways in different sex subgroups shared only limited similarities. The pathways enriched in the female subgroup were more similar to the pathways enriched in the older groups without taking sex difference into consideration. The pathways enriched in the female subgroup were more similar to the pathways enriched in the older groups without taking sex difference into consideration. The muscle myosin filament pathways were downregulated in the both aged female and male samples whereas transforming growth factor beta pathway and extracellular matrix-related pathways were upregulated. With muscle ageing, the metabolism-related pathways, protein synthesis and degradation pathways, results of predicted immune cell infiltration, and gene cluster associated with slow-type myofibers drastically different between the female and male subgroups. This finding may indicate that changes in muscle type with ageing may differ between the sexes in vastus lateralis muscle.