Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
Front Immunol. 2018 Oct 4;9:2279. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.02279. eCollection 2018.
Women have stronger immune responses to infections and vaccination than men. Paradoxically, the stronger immune response comes at a steep price, which is the high incidence of autoimmune diseases in women. The reasons why women have stronger immunity and higher incidence of autoimmunity are not clear. Besides gender, sex hormones contribute to the development and activity of the immune system, accounting for differences in gender-related immune responses. Both innate and adaptive immune systems bear receptors for sex hormones and respond to hormonal cues. This review focuses on the role of sex hormones particularly estrogen, in the adaptive immune response, in health, and autoimmune disease with an emphasis on systemic lupus erythematosus.
女性对感染和疫苗接种的免疫反应强于男性。矛盾的是，更强的免疫反应带来了高昂的代价，这就是女性中自身免疫性疾病的高发率。女性具有更强的免疫力和更高的自身免疫率的原因尚不清楚。除了性别，性激素也会影响免疫系统的发育和活性，导致与性别相关的免疫反应存在差异。先天和适应性免疫系统都有性激素受体，并对激素信号做出反应。本篇综述主要关注性激素（尤其是雌激素）在适应性免疫反应、健康和自身免疫性疾病（特别是红斑狼疮）中的作用。
