Involvement of gonadal steroids and gamma interferon in sex differences in response to blood-stage malaria infection.

ABSTRACT: To examine the hormonal and immunological mechanisms that mediate sex differences in susceptibility to malaria infection, intact and gonadectomized (gdx) C57BL/6 mice were inoculated with Plasmodium chabaudi AS-infected erythrocytes, and the responses to infection were monitored. In addition to reduced mortality, intact females recovered from infection-induced weigh loss and anemia faster than intact males. Expression microarrays and real-time reverse transcription-PCR revealed that gonadally intact females exhibited higher expression of interleukin-10 (IL-10), IL-15Ralpha, IL-12Rbeta, Gadd45gamma, gamma interferon (IFN-gamma), CCL3, CXCL10, CCR5, and several IFN-inducible genes in white blood cells and produced more IFN-gamma than did intact males and gdx females, with these differences b

SUBMITTER: Cernetich A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1479253 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature