Centre for Experimental Neurological Therapies (CENTERS), Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs, Sapienza University of Rome, 00189 Rome, Italy.
San Raffaele Roma Open University, 00166 Rome, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Apr 2;22(7):3696. doi: 10.3390/ijms22073696.
Multiple sclerosis is a complex, multifactorial, dysimmune disease prevalent in women. Its etiopathogenesis is extremely intricate, since each risk factor behaves as a variable that is interconnected with others. In order to understand these interactions, sex must be considered as a determining element, either in a protective or pathological sense, and not as one of many variables. In particular, sex seems to highly influence immune response at chromosomal, epigenetic, and hormonal levels. Environmental and genetic risk factors cannot be considered without sex, since sex-based immunological differences deeply affect disease onset, course, and prognosis. Understanding the mechanisms underlying sex-based differences is necessary in order to develop a more effective and personalized therapeutic approach.
多发性硬化症是一种复杂的、多因素的、免疫失调性疾病，在女性中较为常见。其病因发病机制极其复杂，因为每个危险因素都表现为一个与其他因素相互关联的变量。为了理解这些相互作用，必须将性别视为一个决定性因素，无论是保护意义上还是病理意义上的，而不仅仅是众多变量之一。特别是，性别似乎在染色体、表观遗传和激素水平上高度影响免疫反应。如果不考虑性别，就不能考虑环境和遗传风险因素，因为基于性别的免疫差异会深刻影响疾病的发病、病程和预后。为了开发更有效和个性化的治疗方法，了解基于性别的差异的机制是必要的。
