Comments on immune aspects of the Geschwind-Behan-Galaburda model and of the article of Bryden, McManus, and Bulman-Fleming.
The goal of this article is to reconsider the links among immune disorders, testosterone, and left-handedness made originally by Geschwind and Behan (1982) and by Geschwind and Galaburda (1985). We demonstrate that an excess of testosterone in utero is not a prerequisite for immune disorders, because of its destructive action on thymus, and that allergy and autoimmune disorders are not primarily thymo-dependent but B-lymphocyte-dependent. We furthermore study the HLA proposed by Yeo and Gangestad (1993) and retained by Bryden, McManus, and Bulman-Fleming as a possible variable that could explain, in replacement of testosterone, the link among allergy, asthma, and ulcerative colitis. We conclude that the HLA of lefthanders and the meta-analysis of Bryden et al. do not fit together as well as hoped for.
Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada.
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St-Marseille
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Braun
D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007154:Immune System Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000502:physiology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology
D006680:HLA Antigens; D013739:Testosterone