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
Review
. 2024 Feb 10;10(4):e25634.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e25634. eCollection 2024 Feb 29.

Reasons why women are more likely to develop primary biliary cholangitis

Di Ma  1 , Jiaxuan Ma  1 , Chunmei Zhao  1 , Wenlin Tai  1
Affiliations
Review

Reasons why women are more likely to develop primary biliary cholangitis

Di Ma et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a chronic autoimmune disease of biliary stasis in which immune factors cause the gradual destruction of small bile ducts, biliary stasis, and eventually the development of liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and even liver failure. One of the main characteristics of PBC is that it primarily affects middle-aged women, but the precise cause is still unknown. This article analyzes the unique causes and mechanisms of the female predominance of PBC and summarizes the potential causes.The female domination of PBC is reported to be primarily caused by sex hormones, environmental circumstances, and epigenetic changes, each of which has a different subtle impact on patients' gender disparities.

Keywords: Environmental triggers; Epigenetic modifications; Female dominance; Primary biliary cholangitis; Sex hormones.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Possible factors contributing to women's greater susceptibility to PBC.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bombaci M., Pesce E., Torri A., Carpi D., Crosti M., Lanzafame M., Cordiglieri C., Sinisi A., Moro M., Bernuzzi F., Gerussi A., Geginat J., Muratori L., Terracciano L.M., Invernizzi P., Abrignani S., Grifantini R. Novel biomarkers for primary biliary cholangitis to improve diagnosis and understand underlying regulatory mechanisms. Liver Int. 2019 Nov;39(11):2124–2135. doi: 10.1111/liv.14128. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lleo A., Wang G.Q., Gershwin M.E., Hirschfield G.M. Primary biliary cholangitis. Lancet. 2020 Dec 12;396(10266):1915–1926. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31607-X. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tanaka A. Current understanding of primary biliary cholangitis. Clin Mol Hepatol. 2021 Jan;27(1):1–21. doi: 10.3350/cmh.2020.0028. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ronca V., Mancuso C., Milani C., Carbone M., Oo Y.H., Invernizzi P. Immune system and cholangiocytes: a puzzling affair in primary biliary cholangitis. J Leukoc Biol. 2020 Aug;108(2):659–671. doi: 10.1002/JLB.5MR0320-200R. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gulamhusein A.F., Hirschfield G.M. Primary biliary cholangitis: pathogenesis and therapeutic opportunities. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020 Feb;17(2):93–110. doi: 10.1038/s41575-019-0226-7. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources