ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Very little is known about the development of the immune system during puberty. Autoimmune diseases, like juvenile onset systemic lupus erythematosus (jSLE), have an unexplained female bias and a higher incidence after puberty. IFN alpha (IFNα) is a potent antiviral cytokine, and jSLE has a strong IFNα transcriptional signature. Toll like receptors 7 and 9 (TLR7/9) sense viral RNA and DNA respectively, and trigger plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) to p...

Introduction: There are well described sex differences in the immune system. It has been shown in both innate and adaptive immunity that females have a more robust response than males. Various autoimmune diseases have a strong sex bias towards females. It is the accepted dogma that oestrogen in females relates to an increased risk of autoimmunity, but evidence to this end is scarce. Interferon alpha (IFNα) is a potent anti-viral innate cytokine, and many autoimmune diseas...

Prior to menopause, it is known that women have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and coronary heart disease compared to age-matched men; it is reported that women have around half the CVD risk and almost a 10-year delay in first myocardial infarction event compared to men. Sex differences in serum lipids could contribute to CVD risk through driving atherosclerosis, the buildup of lipids in the sub-endothelial intimal layer of medium-sized to large arteries. We hypo...

Background: Cis-gender females are known to mount stronger immune responses to invading pathogens or vaccines than cis-gender males. However, this is also associated with increased risk of autoimmunity. Little is known about the immunophenotypes of transgender individuals on gender-affirming hormonal treatment, despite growing evidence that hormones influence the immune system. Via the process of class-switch recombination (CSR), B-cell immunoglobulin isotype ...