Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jul;6(4):237-48.
doi: 10.1177/1756285613488434.

Sex and gender issues in multiple sclerosis

Hanne F Harbo  1 , Ralf Gold, Mar Tintoré
Affiliations

Sex and gender issues in multiple sclerosis

Hanne F Harbo et al. Ther Adv Neurol Disord. 2013 Jul.

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is universally found to be more prevalent in women than men. This has led to extensive studies of differences in the immune system or nervous system between women and men, which might be caused by the effects of gonadal hormones, genetic differences, and different environmental exposures and modern lifestyle in men and women. We review the effects of sex and gender from a genetic, immunological and clinical point of view. We discuss the effects of sex on the clinical expression of MS and responses to therapy, as well as issues concerning pregnancy.

Keywords: Multiple sclerosis; female; genes; immunology; pregnancy; sex.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement: Hanne F Harbo has received speaking honoraria and support of travel expenses for scientific meetings from Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis and Biogen Idec, Norway. Ralf Gold received speaker’s and consulting honoraria, and scientific grant support from Bayer Schering, BiogenIdec, MerckSerono, Novartis, Sanofi Genzyme and TEVA. Mar Tintoré received speaking honoraria and travel expenses for scientific meetings in the past with Bayer Schering Pharma, Biogen Idec, EMD Merck Serono, Genzyme, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis and Teva Pharmaceuticals.

References

    1. Ahlgren C., Oden A., Lycke J. (2011) High nationwide prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Sweden. Mult Scler 17: 901–908 - PubMed
    1. Amato M., Portaccio E., Ghezzi A., Hakiki B., Zipoli V., Martinelli V., et al. (2010) Pregnancy and fetal outcomes after interferon-beta exposure in multiple sclerosis. Neurology 75: 1794–1802 - PubMed
    1. Ascherio A., Munger K. (2010) Epstein-Barr virus infection and multiple sclerosis: a review. J Neuroimmune Pharmacol 5: 271–277 - PubMed
    1. Ban M., Elson J., Walton A., Turnbull D., Compston A., Chinnery P., et al. (2008) Investigation of the role of mitochondrial DNA in multiple sclerosis susceptibility. PLoS ONE 3: e2891. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bebo B., Jr, Zelinka-Vincent E., Adamus G., Amundson D., Vandenbark A., Offner H. (1998) Gonadal hormones influence the immune response to PLP 139–151 and the clinical course of relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. J Neuroimmunol 84: 122–130 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources