Sex, genes, hormones and nigral neurodegeneration: two different Parkinson‘s diseases in males and in females

Abstract

Evaluation of: Cantuti-Castelvetri I, Keller-McGandy C, Bouzou B et al.: Effects of gender on nigral gene expression and Parkinson disease. Neurobiol. Dis. 26(3), 606–614 (2007). Evidence from clinical, anatomical, neurophysiological, endocrinological and genetic studies demonstrates that Parkinson‘s disease (PD) is a gender-specific pathology. The study by Cantuti-Castelvetri et al. points out the central role of sexual dimorphisms in gene expression for understanding the pathophysiology of gender differences in PD. They identified several genes differentially expressed in female and male PD patients. Their results support the hypothesis that PD in females and in males are two different pathologies possibly associated with specific therapies. Gender differences in PD could be seen in the wider perspective of gender medicine for neurological disorders and their results suggest that basic and clinical research should examine sex differences for both understanding the disease and optimizing treatments.

Keywords: :

• gender differences
• gene expression
• gonadal hormones
• nigral neurodegeneration
• Parkinson‘s disease

Financial disclosure

The authors have no relevant financial interests including employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties related to this manuscript.