Women, researchers discovered that the presence of the female hormone oestrogen provides women an advantage over men when it comes to severe psoriasis, a skin disease characterised by red, itchy, scaly areas.
However, the underlying cause of the gender variances has previously remained unknown. Now, a team from Hamamatsu University has discovered that the female hormone oestradiol (oestrogen steroid hormone) suppresses psoriasis, and the hormone’s protective effect has provided a foundation for its therapeutic potential.
“Our findings not only shed fresh insight on the molecular basis of sex differences in psoriasis, but also on the physiological significance of estradiol,” said Tetsuya Honda of the University’s School of Medicine. The researchers used conditional knockout mice, or cko mice, that had their ovaries removed but were given oestradiol pellets or a placebo.
Compared to wild-type mice, cko animals lacking the natural ovarian hormone estradiol displayed significant skin irritation.
When these animals were given oestradiol, the synthesis of the cytokines IL-17A and IL-1beta in neutrophil and macrophage immune cells was reversed, resulting in less inflammation. In vitro, same impact was also demonstrated in human neutrophils. The researchers were interested by how the lack of oestrogen receptors in immune cells rendered estradiol ineffective against the cytokines.
