title: Sex differences in nuclear receptor-regulated liver metabolic pathways.
abstract: Liver metabolism is markedly sex-dimorphic; accordingly, the prevalence of liver diseases is different between sexes. The superfamily of nuclear receptors (NRs) governs the proper expression of key liver metabolism genes by sensing lipid-soluble hormones and dietary lipids. When the expression of those genes is deregulated, disease development is favored. However, we lack a comprehensive picture of the differences between NR actions in males and females. Here, we reviewed explorative studies that assessed NR functions in both sexes, and we propose a first map of sex-dimorphic NR expression in the liver. Our analysis suggested that NRs in the female liver exhibited cross-talk with more liver-protective potential than NRs in male liver. This study provides empirical support to the hypothesis that women are more resilient to some liver diseases than men, based on a more compensative NR network. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Translating nuclear receptors from health to disease.
authors.affiliation: Center for Integrative Genomics and National Research Center Frontiers in Genetics, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gianpaolo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rando
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wahli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors