women's immune response stronger than men's

bobby

Well-Known Member
Statistically, women have a bigger chance of developing certain autoimmune illnesses like MS or lupus. Scientists have a pretty good idea now why this happens.

As it turns out, the female body's immune response is a lot stronger than the immune response in men - possibly because the female body needs a very quick and strong defense mechanism in case it needs to protect a developing foetus. Autoimmune illness occurs when this fast, strong defense mechanism goes haywire, so to speak.

Because of these findings, researchers will have to redesign the way they set up clinical trials in terms of patient cohorts, and in terms of taking into account the gender related differences in immune response.

They are also studying the possibility of giving women smaller dose vaccinations, as this might be all their immune system needs to react.

http://www.nature.com/news/infectio...een-the-sexes-1.20131?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews

This story reminds me of how science used to say that women were more susceptible to autoimmune conditions because of their 'feeble nature'. Consider it officially debunked! :cool:
 

Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
Statistically, women have a bigger chance of developing certain autoimmune illnesses like MS or lupus. Scientists have a pretty good idea now why this happens.

As it turns out, the female body's immune response is a lot stronger than the immune response in men - possibly because the female body needs a very quick and strong defense mechanism in case it needs to protect a developing foetus. Autoimmune illness occurs when this fast, strong defense mechanism goes haywire, so to speak.

Because of these findings, researchers will have to redesign the way they set up clinical trials in terms of patient cohorts, and in terms of taking into account the gender related differences in immune response.

They are also studying the possibility of giving women smaller dose vaccinations, as this might be all their immune system needs to react.

http://www.nature.com/news/infectio...een-the-sexes-1.20131?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews

This story reminds me of how science used to say that women were more susceptible to autoimmune conditions because of their 'feeble nature'. Consider it officially debunked! :cool:
This is also why women suffer more from infections. Interestingly, they're better at wiping out the pathogen but their overly strong immune response produces more problems.

To me this suggests that the problem in ME/CFS is less likely infections than the immune response...

http://www.nature.com/news/women-are-more-vulnerable-to-infections-1.13456


Her research on influenza viruses in mice, presented at the meeting in Montreal, Canada, helps explain why women are more susceptible to death and disease from infectious pathogens — and the reason is intimately linked with reproduction. “She’s one of the people that really gets the bigger picture as far as why do we see these patterns,” says Marlene Zuk, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in St. Paul.

Women generally suffer more severe flu symptoms than men, for example, despite the fact that they tend to have fewer viruses during an infection. To Klein, this suggests that women quickly mount a substantial immune-system attack to clear infections — and suffer the consequences of the inflammatory responses that flood their systems. “This is where females run into trouble,” Klein says.
 

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