Review Article
Year: 2017 | Month: July | Volume: 7 | Issue: 7 | Pages: 311-315
Autoimmune Diseases and Their Prevalence in Females: A Review
Dr. Shriya Khera1, Dr. Anjali Saigal2
1Oral Medicine and Radiology, Senior Resident, Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi
2Professor, Oral Medicine and Radiology, Thapar Hospital and Research Institute, Moga, Punjab.
Corresponding Author: Shriya Khera
ABSTRACT
Autoimmune diseases affect approximately 8% of the population, 78% of which show female preponderance. The reasons for the high prevalence in women are unknown, but circumstantial evidence links autoimmune diseases with preceding infections. One of the most putative mechanism is related to sex chromosomes, based upon the recent observation that women with autoimmune diseases manifest a higher rate of circulating leukocytes with a single X chromosomes leading to X Inactivation. One of the other factors are sex hormones. Sex hormones may further amplify this hyperimmune response to infection in susceptible persons, which leads to an increased prevalence of autoimmune disease in women.
Key words: Autoimmune diseases, female preponderance, X Chromosome inactivation