Associate Professor of the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto
Key takeaways
As more medical research becomes disaggregated by sex and gender, sex-specific differences are starting to emerge in medical records and in basic science studies.
Being female (having sex chromosomes that are XX as opposed to XY) can affect an individual’s response to infection, cancer, hypertension, asthma and even neurodegeneration, among other conditions.
Sex-specific differences need to be better understood to ensure treatment is adequate for those assigned female at birth.
Professor of Reproductive & Genomic Epidemiology at Oxford University
Key takeaways
Endometriosis, long neglected by scientific research, has recently seen renewed interest, leading to important advances.
The origin of the disease is now known (probably a dysfunction of the endometrial cells in menstrual blood), but questions remain as to why it develops in certain people.
Endometriosis is hard to study due to the lack of suitable animal models and difficulties in monitoring the course of the disease.
Recent research has discovered a strong genetic component in endometriosis, with unexpected links to other inflammatory and painful diseases.
Current treatments for endometriosis are mainly hormonal, but there is an urgent need to develop non-hormonal options that are suitable for all patients, including transgender men.
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