Sex differences in immune responses
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Paharkova-Vatchkova, V., Maldonado, R. & Kovats, S. Estrogen preferentially promotes the differentiation of CD11c+CD11bint dendritic cells from bone marrow precursors. J. Immunol. 172, 1426–1436 (2004). A rigorous evaluation of oestrogenic effects on DC differentiation and ER expression.
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Straub, R. H. The complex role of estrogens in inflammation. Endocr. Rev. 28, 521–574 (2007). An excellent review of oestrogenic effects on immune cells and immune-mediated diseases, with exceptional details about in vitro and in vivo studies, concentrations of oestrogen and identification of the biopotential effects of oestrogens on immune responses.
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Voskuhl, R. R. et al. Estriol combined with glatiramer acetate for women with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: a randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial. Lancet Neurol. 15, 35–46 (2016). A clinical trial using oestrogen (specifically the placental oestrogen, oestriol) to mitigate the debilitating effects of severe multiple sclerosis, showing that oestrogens can be used therapeutically to treat immune-mediated diseases.
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Vom Steeg, L. G. & Klein, S. L. SeXX Matters in infectious disease pathogenesis. PLoS Pathog. 12, e1005374 (2016). A current review of sex differences in infectious diseases, with a detailed analysis of the mechanistic causes of sex differences in the outcome of infectious diseases in humans.
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Flanagan, K. L. & Jensen, K. J. in Sex and Gender Differences in Infection and Treatments for Infectious Diseases (eds Klein, S. L. & Roberts, C. W.) 273–312 (Springer, 2015). This book chapter provides a comprehensive review of sex-based differences in immunity to vaccines and infections in under-5-year-old children.
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Cook, I. F. Sexual dimorphism of humoral immunity with human vaccines. Vaccine 26, 3551–3555 (2008). A comprehensive review of studies demonstrating sex-based differences in antibody responses to vaccines. Multiple vaccines were implicated, highlighting the need to consider sex as a variable in vaccine immunogenicity studies.
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