| Causes of Scleroderma (MAIN MENU) | | | |
| Hormones and Chromosomes in Scleroderma |
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| Overview |
| Hormones and Chromosomes have been found to contribute to the development of autoimmune diseases. This may explain why women are more susceptible to autoimmune diseases than men. |
| Sex Differences And Rheumatoid Arthritis. Sex hormone balance is a crucial factor in the regulation of immune and inflammatory responses. Modulation of this balance should represent part of advanced biologic treatments for RA. Medical News Today. 01/03/07. (Also see: Rheumatoid Arthritis) |
| A role for transcription factor NF-{kappa}B in autoimmunity: possible interactions of genes, sex, and the immune response. Females have higher antibody levels than males, and they mount more robust immune responses to antigens. Advan. Physiol. Edu. 30: 152-158, 2006. |
| Adrenocortical Function and Scleroderma |
| Lower Adrenocortical and Adrenomedullary Responses to Hypoglycemia in Premenopausal Women with Systemic Sclerosis. Our data indicate decreased adrenocortical and adrenomedullary functions in premenopausal women with SSc. J Rheumatol 2006 November;33:2235-41. |
| Gender Differences in Systemic Sclerosis (Scleroderma) |
| Gender Differences in Systemic Sclerosis Clinical Expression and Survival. Male systemic sclerosis patients present more renal failure, conduction disturbances and inflammatory myopathy, and less anti-centromere antibodies than female patients. B. Joven. FRI0361 EULAR 2006. (Also see: Prognosis and Mortality) |
| Sexual differences in immune response appear at puberty. In a recent study, researches found that the differences in the male and female immune responses, which make females more prone to autoimmune disease and males more subject to infections, are established during puberty. These findings have implications for studies of autoimmunity, transplantation and vaccination. RxPG News 02-22-06. |
| Sexual dimorphism in immune response genes as a function of puberty. Autoimmune diseases are more prevalent in females than in males, whereas males have higher mortality associated with infectious diseases. These results demonstrate that sexual dimorphism in innate and adaptive immune genes is dependent on puberty. This study also revealed that estrogen influences immunoglobulin levels in post-pubertal female mice. BMC Immunology 02-22-06 2006, 7:2. |
| Growth Hormones |
| Elevated Serum Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF-1) and IGF Binding Protein-3 Levels in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis: Possible Role in Development of Fibrosis. These results suggest that both IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 are involved in the development of SSc. The role of IGF-1 appears to be different from that of IGFBP-3. Y. Hamaguchi. J Rheumatol Nov 1 2008. (Also see: Skin Fibrosis) |
| Neuroendocrine Regulation and Scleroderma |
| Impaired Hypothalamic Function, Prolactinomas, and Autoimmune Diseases. It appears that SLE, scleroderma, and possibly other autoimmune diseases may share defects in dopamine regulation that reflect basic abnormalities in neuroendocrine regulation. Journal of Rhuematology. Editorial. Volume 33: No. 6 June 2006. |
| Prempro and Scleroderma (Lawsuit) |
| First of Over 4,000 Prempro Cases Set to Go to Trial in July. Prempro (Conjugated estrogens/Medroxyprogesterone acetate tablets), a hormone replacement therapy used to treat symptoms of menopause, has been linked to serious side effects including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, gallbladder cancer, lupus, scleroderma, stroke, blood clots, severe asthma, and pulmonary embolisms. NewsInferno.com. 04/27/06. |
| Prolactin and Scleroderma |
| Prolactin synthesis by lymphocytes from patients with systemic sclerosis. Lymphocytes might contribute to elevated prolactin levels in patients with SSc and these cells themselves may be sensitive to prolactin stimulation. Therefore, a pharmacologic attempt to lower prolactin levels in patients with SSc could proof beneficial. PubMed. Biomed Pharmacother. 2006 Mar 3. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma: B Cells and T Cells) |
| X Chromosome, Mosaicism, and Scleroderma |
| The X in sex: how autoimmune diseases revolve around sex chromosomes. It is important not to overlook men with autoimmune diseases, who might manifest a more frequent loss of the Y chromosome in circulating leukocytes. Taken together, sex chromosome changes might constitute the common trait of autoimmunity. (ScienceDirect) Carlo Selmi, MD. Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology. October 2008. (Also see: Causes of Autoimmunity) |
| The X chromosome and systemic sclerosis. These observations, reproduced in other female-predominant autoimmune diseases, strongly support the role of the X chromosome in conferring susceptibility to tolerance breakdown and open novel scenarios to emphasize the unknown etiopathogenesis of systemic sclerosis. PubMed. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2006 Nov;18(6):601-605. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma: Genetics) |
| X chromosomes key to sex differences in health. Females have two X chromosomes and males only have one. This simple fact, along with the occurrence of what geneticists call mosaicism, may explain why women are less susceptible than men to certain genetic diseases but also why some diseases are female-specific such as thyroiditis and scleroderma. EurekAlert! JAMA & Archives Journals. 03/21/06. |
