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Stronger inflammatory/cytotoxic T-cell response in women identified by microarray analysis

Genes & Immunity volume 10, pages 509–516 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Women develop chronic inflammatory autoimmune diseases more often than men. The mechanisms causing the increased susceptibility are incompletely understood. Chronic immune stimulation characterizes many autoimmune disorders. We hypothesized that repeated stimulation may cause a different T-cell response in women than in men. Microarrays were used to compare gene expression in T cells from healthy men and women with and without repeated stimulation. Four days after a single stimulation, only 25% of differentially expressed, gender-biased genes were expressed at higher levels in women. In contrast, after restimulation, 72% were more highly expressed in women. Immune response genes were significantly over-represented among the genes upregulated in women and among the immune response genes, the inflammatory/cytotoxic effector genes interferon-γ (IFN-γ), lymphotoxin β (LTβ), granzyme A (GZMA), interleukin-12 receptor β2 (IL12Rβ2), and granulysin (GNLY) were among those overexpressed to the highest degree. In contrast, IL17A was the only effector gene more highly expressed in men. Estrogen response elements were identified in the promoters of half the overexpressed immune genes in women, and in <10% of the male-biased genes. The differential expression of inflammatory/cytotoxic effector molecules in restimulated female T cells may contribute to the differences in autoimmune diseases between women and men.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ms Cindy Bourke for her expert secretarial assistance. This work was supported by PHS Grants AR42525, AG25877 and ES015214, and a Merit grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Rheumatology Division, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    A Hewagama, D Patel, S Yarlagadda, F M Strickland & B C Richardson

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  1. A Hewagama
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  2. D Patel
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  3. S Yarlagadda
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  4. F M Strickland
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Correspondence to B C Richardson.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on Genes and Immunity website (http://www.nature.com/gene)

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Hewagama, A., Patel, D., Yarlagadda, S. et al. Stronger inflammatory/cytotoxic T-cell response in women identified by microarray analysis. Genes Immun 10, 509–516 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/gene.2009.12

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