Among the many reasons men have for being jealous of women (assuming they are!) - at least when it comes to skin inflammation - women seem to have severe psoriasis less often.
However, the underlying mechanism that explains this gender difference has remained unclear.
A team of researchers from Kyoto University in Japan found that the predominantly female hormone estradiol suppresses psoriasis, and the hormone's protective role provides a basis for its therapeutic potential.
"Our results not only revealed the molecular mechanisms of gender differences in psoriasis, but shed new light on our understanding of the role of estradiol," said Dr. Tetsuya Honda of Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, who was previously at Kyoto University.
His research team studied specially modified female mice without ovaries, which received estradiol supplements or placebo. Unlike the "normal" mice in the control group, the modified oestradiol-secreting, non-ovarian mice showed symptoms of severe skin inflammation.
Once these mice were given estradiol, production of the cytokines IL-17A and IL-1β in neutrophil and macrophage immune cells was reversed, reducing inflammation. This effect was also observed in the laboratory in human neutrophil cells in vitro.
What piqued the researchers' interest was how the lack of estrogen receptors in immune cells suppressed the action of estradiol against cytokines.
The researchers' conclusion is that estradiol suppresses psoriatic inflammation by upregulating neutrophil and macrophage cells.
Therefore, according to the Japanese researchers, this predominantly female hormone seems to protect the skin from the severe inflammation of psoriasis.
Source.gr
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