Posted on June 3rd, 2009 by Craig Maltby, Editor
The Battle of the Sexes continues: Do women’s immune systems beat the men’s?
Earlier this year I posted some observations from Dr. Ed Wallace on differences in the types of stress-related condit
ions he sees among his patients, specifically differences between males and females. “…I find that women are most likely to experience headaches, irritable bowel, fatigue, anxiety/depression, lack of sex drive and insomnia, while it is more common for me to see heart palpitations, high blood pressure and irritability in men,” said the Doc.
Now the male/female contrast continues. This past month a study was published in that indicates women’s immune response is better than men’s. How’s that for a smack-down from the fairer sex.
But wait!!! The study was conducted on mice! According the Science Daily story summarizing the research, “this study was conducted on mice that lack the Caspase-12 gene, meaning that the mice were extremely resistant to infection. The human Caspase-12 gene was implanted in a group of male and female mice, yet only the males became more prone to infection. “We were very surprised by these results, and we determined that the estrogen produced by the female mice blocked the expression of the human Caspase-12 gene,” explained Dr. Saleh. “We were also able to locate where the estrogen receptor binds on the gene in order to block its expression, which indicates that the hormone exerts direct action in this case.”
However, many researchers would say the findings are transferable to a human model because a human gene was used.
“This finding might therefore open the door to new therapeutic applications that reinforce the immune system, but a question remains: will men be amenable to the idea of being treated with an exclusively female hormone?”
Ask Manny Rameriz.
A link to the study abstract is here, where you can also purchase the full-text report.
