Stanford Medicine-led study shows why women are at greater risk of autoimmune disease
Research throws light on the mystery of why women are much more prone to autoimmune disorders: A molecule made by one X chromosome in every female cell can generate antibodies to a woman’s own tissues.
Note for readers - Xist is pronounced like "exist".
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Your links were really interesting - thanks for posting. It was also shocking!
“Every cell in a woman’s body produces Xist,” Chang said. “But for several decades, we’ve used a male cell line as the standard of reference. That male cell line produced no Xist and no Xist/protein/DNA complexes, nor have other cells used since for the test. So, all of a female patient’s anti-Xist-complex antibodies — a huge source of women’s autoimmune susceptibility — go unseen.”
I thought that getting researchers to include women in their testing protocols was a major win. But it turns out that even our chromosomes are ignored in testing.
Interesting, I had no idea the genes had to be shut down like that to avoid duplication from both X chromosomes in the woman until I read the article I posted. . I’ll have a pike at the link. For some reason I’m no longer notified when you have posted new stuff by HU - no idea why it stopped, so I now miss things ☹️
I think there are ongoing issues with notifications. I keep thinking I should have had an alert. But then I sometimes get an alert and wonder why - because I've already seen it!
Not suggesting anyone should do this, but following me should ensure alerts.
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Testosterone in women - why is it important and why would levels drop?
NYT article about autoimmune disease 
