title: Sex-dependent differences in plasma cytokine responses to hantavirus infection.
abstract: There are often sex differences in susceptibility to infectious diseases and in level of mortality after infection. These differences probably stem from sex-related abilities to mount proper or unwanted immune responses against an infectious agent. We report that hantavirus-infected female patients show significantly higher plasma levels of interleukin-9 (IL-9), fibroblast growth factor 2, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and lower levels of IL-8 and gamma interferon-induced protein 10 than male patients. The results demonstrate that a virus infection can induce sex-dependent differences in acute immune responses in humans. This finding may, at least partly, explain the observed sex differences in susceptibility to infectious diseases and in mortality following infection.
authors: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infectious Diseases, Umeå University, SE-901 85 Umeå, Sweden. Jonas.Klingstrom@smi.ki.se
authors: Jonas
authors: J
authors: Klingström
authors: Therese
authors: T
authors: Lindgren
authors: Clas
authors: C
authors: Ahlm
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018778:Hantavirus Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016906:Interleukin-9 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D010949:Plasma / Q000821:virology; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D016207:Cytokines; D016906:Interleukin-9