The X chromosome and sex-specific effects in infectious disease susceptibility
Date
2019-01-08
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC (part of Springer Nature)
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The X chromosome and X-linked variants have largely been ignored in genome-wide and candidate association
studies of infectious diseases due to the complexity of statistical analysis of the X chromosome. This exclusion is
significant, since the X chromosome contains a high density of immune-related genes and regulatory elements that
are extensively involved in both the innate and adaptive immune responses. Many diseases present with a clear sex
bias, and apart from the influence of sex hormones and socioeconomic and behavioural factors, the X
chromosome, X-linked genes and X chromosome inactivation mechanisms contribute to this difference. Females
are functional mosaics for X-linked genes due to X chromosome inactivation and this, combined with other X
chromosome inactivation mechanisms such as genes that escape silencing and skewed inactivation, could
contribute to an immunological advantage for females in many infections. In this review, we discuss the
involvement of the X chromosome and X inactivation in immunity and address its role in sexual dimorphism of
infectious diseases using tuberculosis susceptibility as an example, in which male sex bias is clear, yet not fully
explored.
Description
CITATION: Schurz, H., et al. 2019. The X chromosome and sex-specific effects in infectious disease susceptibility. Human Genomics, 13:2, doi:10.1186/s40246-018-0185-z.
The original publication is available at https://humgenomics.biomedcentral.com
The original publication is available at https://humgenomics.biomedcentral.com
Keywords
Tuberculosis, Sexism, X chromosome, Genetics, Disease susceptibility
Citation
Schurz, H., et al. 2019. The X chromosome and sex-specific effects in infectious disease susceptibility. Human Genomics, 13:2, doi:10.1186/s40246-018-0185-z