Interesting article on why women get higher levels of autoimmune disease

[TSH110]

Two versions:

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.

med.stanford.edu/news/all-n...

VOA news

X Chromosome Linked to Autoimmune Diseases

voanews.com/amp/x-chromosom...

[ Added the titles from the linked pages to try to explain what is there and encourage members to follow them. ]

[humanbean]

Note for readers - Xist is pronounced like "exist".

...

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.

[TSH110 in reply to humanbean]

Quite 😱 but perhaps in the future it will change for the better.

[helvella]

Links neatly with my recent post which also goes on about the processes of shutting down one X chromosome.

Why Women Are Stripey - Epigenetics means women have different active x-chromosomes in different cells

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[TSH110 in reply to helvella]

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 ☹️

[helvella in reply to TSH110]

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.

If you are not getting them, do report the issue to HealthUnlocked.

Email [e-mail] or try the dropdown at top right.

This issue of reporting applies to ALL members.

[humanbean in reply to helvella]

What I can't understand with respect to alerts is why they keep going wrong. Why does the coding for alerts keep getting tinkered with? If something works it should be left alone!

[TSH110 in reply to humanbean]

Fast typing? That’s all that matters these days 🙄

[TSH110]

Fixed! For some reason the follow button for you was no longer checked 🤷🏽‍♀️

Excellent fault diagnosis there helvella 😊 Ta