There are notable sex-based differences in immune responses to pathogens and self-antigens, with female individuals exhibiting increased susceptibility to various autoimmune diseases, and male individuals displaying preferential susceptibility to some viral, bacterial, parasitic and fungal infections. Although sex hormones clearly contribute to sex differences in immune cell composition and function, the presence of two X chromosomes in female individuals suggests that differential gene expression of numerous X chromosome-linked immune-related genes may also influence sex-biased innate and adaptive immune cell function in health and disease. Here, we review the sex differences in immune system composition and function, examining how hormones and genetics influence the immune system. We focus on the genetic and epigenetic contributions responsible for altered X chromosome-linked gene expression, and how this impacts sex-biased immune responses in the context of pathogen infection and systemic autoimmunity.

对病原体和自身抗原的免疫反应存在显着的性别差异，女性个体对各种自身免疫性疾病的易感性增加，而男性个体对某些病毒、细菌、寄生虫和真菌感染表现出优先易感性。尽管性激素明显导致免疫细胞组成和功能的性别差异，但女性个体中两条 X 染色体的存在表明，许多 X 染色体连锁的免疫相关基因的差异基因表达也可能影响性别偏向的先天性和适应性免疫细胞在健康和疾病中发挥作用。在这里，我们回顾了免疫系统组成和功能的性别差异，研究了激素和遗传学如何影响免疫系统。我们重点关注导致 X 染色体相关基因表达改变的遗传和表观遗传贡献，以及这如何影响病原体感染和系统性自身免疫背景下的性别偏见免疫反应。