Complement genes contribute sex-biased vulnerability in diverse disorders.

ABSTRACT: Many common illnesses, for reasons that have not been identified, differentially affect men and women. For instance, the autoimmune diseases systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjögren's syndrome affect nine times more women than men¹, whereas schizophrenia affects men with greater frequency and severity relative to women². All three illnesses have their strongest common genetic associations in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) locus, an association that in SLE and Sjögren's syndrome has long been thought to arise from alleles of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes at that locus^3-6. Here we show that variation of the complement component 4 (C4) genes C4A and C4B, which are also at the MHC locus and have been linked to increased risk for schi

SUBMITTER: Kamitaki N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7319891 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature