weaker sex

London: They have been called the weaker sex for centuries, but a new study has found that women are stronger than their male counterparts when it comes to fighting diseases as well as infections.

Researchers at the Ghent University in Belgium found that the fairer sex is genetically programmed to better resist infections and cancer, and also has a back-up system to fight disease.

The discovery, they said, also suggested that men who regularly complain of ‘man-flu’ may not be exaggerating after all, the Daily Mail reported.

The secret to women’s stronger immunity, according to the researchers, lies in a key biological difference between the sexes. Women have an extra copy of the female X-chromosome, while men have only one and a much smaller Y-chromosome.

This means women have greater access to molecules called microRNAs, which are encoded on the X-chromosome. These tiny strains of ribonucleic acid are regarded as major regulators of the immune system, the researchers said.

Dr Claude Libert, who led the research, said, “Statistics show that in humans, as with other mammals, females live longer than males and are more able to fight off shock episodes from sepsis, infection or trauma.

“We believe this is due to the Xchromosome, which in humans contains 10% of all microRNAs detected so far in the genetic code.”

Several of them are thought to have “important functions in immunity and cancer”, he said.

Dr Eleanor Fish, a professor of immunobiology at the University of Toronto, said of the findings in the Bio-Essays journal, “The advantages of having two X-chromosomes as opposed to an X- and a Y-chromosome are huge. “MicroRNAs are very important for regulating proteins that would influence cell growth and cancer, and the immune response. They can suppress proteins that promote cancer and boost proteins that do the opposite,” she said.

However, there is a downside to a woman’s super immunity, said Dr Fish, “It favours resistance to infection with a more robust immune response but once you have got infection then it can result in a more severe inflammatory response.

“This means women are more likely to develop autoimmune diseases and they may suffer flu more badly than men.” PTI