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Sexual Transmission of American Trypanosomes from Males and Females to Naive Mates
Published on: January 27, 2019
Role of sex in immune response and epigenetic mechanisms
Sombodhi Bhattacharya1, Debasmita Sadhukhan2, Radha Saraswathy3,4
1Biomedical Genetics Research Lab, School of Biosciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, 632014, India.
Abstract:
The functioning of the human immune system is highly dependent on the sex of the individual, which comes by virtue of sex chromosomes and hormonal differences. Epigenetic mechanisms such as X chromosome inactivation, mosaicism, skewing, and dimorphism in X chromosome genes and Y chromosome regulatory genes create a sex-based variance in the immune response between males and females. This leads to differential susceptibility in immune-related disorders like infections, autoimmunity, and malignancies. Various naturally available immunomodulators are also available which target immune pathways containing X chromosome genes.
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