As far as health and disease are concerned,women can be considered the stronger sex. To date, several studies have shown that their immune system is more resistant than theirs. Now, research from the University of Ghent (Belgium) claims to have found the explanation for these differences in the microRNAs encoded on the female double X chromosome.
“Statistics show that in humans, but also in other mammals,females live longer than males and are better able to fight infection to trauma“, explains Claude Libert, co-author of the work. The key is thatfemales have two X chromosomes, while men have only one. ? The X chromosome contains 10% of all the microRNAs in the genome, which play important roles in the immune system and in protecting against cancer ,? adds the Belgian researcher.
ThemicroARNs are encoded on the X chromosome and, as scientists have found, they aremolecules capable of weakening the ability to defend against diseases by “silencing” and inactivating the genes of the immune system. Because women have two X chromosomes, their bodies are more likely than men (with a single X chromosome and a Y chromosome) to compensate for this “weakness.”
However, not everything is an advantage for them. According to the authors of the investigation in the magazineBioEssays, “the same mechanisms that give women a survival advantage as wellincrease your susceptibility to autimmune diseases?, especially in advanced ages.
