Gender-Specific Cytokine Pathways, Targets, and Biomarkers for the Switch from Health to Adenoma and Colorectal Cancer
Figure 2
Differences between men and women in the relationships of serum “level network profiles” could represent possible gender biomarkers for sexually dimorphic generation of immune responses in health and disease states. In healthy subjects (a), significant gender-specific and gender-common Th1/Th2 network relationships were found in serum which could be used as biomarkers to identify the direction of T cell differentiation. However, in neither sex did the IL10 cytokine interact with other network components. In colorectal cancer patients (b) no significant relationships with IFNγ in the male group were observed or with IL6 in the female group, indicating alterations in the gender-specific Th-cytokine pathways; significant relationships between IL10 and other Th1/Th2 network components were observed in both men and women groups indicating alterations in the gender-common pathways but through different Th1/Th2 pathways.
