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Sex Differences in Parasitic Infections: Beyond the Dogma of Female-Biased Resistance

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Sex Hormones and Immunity to Infection

Abstract

Sex differences in parasitic infections are a biological phenomenon of considerable significance for individual health and disease as well as for the evolution of a species. The general rule of thumb is that females are more resistant to infectious diseases than males. There are, however, many notable exceptions to this rule that illustrate a female bias in susceptibility to infection. By studying sex differences to cysticercosis infection, it has been demonstrated that females are more likely than males to become infected, to carry larger parasite loads, to be more severely affected, and more reticent to developing protective immunity. Our animal studies illustrate that female-biased susceptibility to parasitic infection is influenced by hormones, reproductive status, age, and genetic background. The mechanisms underlying the sexual dimorphism in murine cysticercosis involve the effects of sex steroids on both the host immune and central nervous systems as well as directly on the parasite. In this chapter, the causes of female-biased susceptibility to parasitic, and possibly other, infections are examined.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support was provided by Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México (UNAM), IN213108, by The National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico (CONACyT, 58283) and by a special grant from Fundación Miguel Alemán-SSA, the three of them to J.M.-M. G.E., and MADL were CONACyT Ph.D. fellows.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Inmunología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70228, México D.F., 04510, México

    Jorge Morales-Montor

Authors
  1. Galileo Escobedo
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  2. Marco A. De León-Nava
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  3. Jorge Morales-Montor
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Correspondence to Jorge Morales-Montor .

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  1. School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg, N. Wolfe Street 615, Baltimore, 21205, U.S.A.

    Sabra L. Klein

  2. Institute for Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Taylor Street 27, Glasgow, G4 0NR, United Kingdom

    Craig Roberts

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Escobedo, G., De León-Nava, M.A., Morales-Montor, J. (2010). Sex Differences in Parasitic Infections: Beyond the Dogma of Female-Biased Resistance. In: Klein, S., Roberts, C. (eds) Sex Hormones and Immunity to Infection. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02155-8_7

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