It's all about sex: gender, lung development and lung disease.
Accumulating evidence suggests that gender affects the incidence, susceptibility and severity of several lung diseases. Gender also influences lung development and physiology. Data from both human and animal studies indicate that sex hormones might contribute to disease pathogenesis or serve as protective factors, depending on the disease involved. In this review, the influence of gender and sex hormones on lung development and pathology will be discussed, with specific emphasis on pulmonary fibrosis, asthma and cancer.
Carey
Michelle A
MA
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA.
Card
Jeffrey W
JW
Voltz
James W
JW
Arbes
Samuel J
SJ
Germolec
Dori R
DR
Korach
Kenneth S
KS
Zeldin
Darryl C
DC
D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008168:Lung / Q000254:growth & development*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012727:Sex Characteristics