Immune System Sex Differences May Bridge the Gap Between Sex and Gender in Fibromyalgia

The fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is characterized by chronic widespread pain, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and cognitive alterations. A limited efficacy of targeted treatment and a high FMS prevalence (2-5% of the adult population) sums up to high morbidity. Although, altered nociception has been exp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in neuroscience 2020-01, Vol.13, p.1414-1414
Main Authors: Meester, Irene, Rivera-Silva, Gerardo Francisco, González-Salazar, Francisco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
autoimmune disease
Autoimmune diseases
Bias
Biomarkers
central nervous system sensitization
Chronic illnesses
Cognitive ability
Disease
Females
Fibromyalgia
Gender
Gender differences
Genomes
Hypotheses
Immune system
Males
Middle age
Morbidity
Neuropathy
Neuroscience
Neurosciences
Pain
Pain perception
pathophysiology
Pediatrics
Personality
Restless legs syndrome
Sex differences
Sexual dimorphism
Sleep
widespread chronic pain
Womens health
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Summary:The fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is characterized by chronic widespread pain, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and cognitive alterations. A limited efficacy of targeted treatment and a high FMS prevalence (2-5% of the adult population) sums up to high morbidity. Although, altered nociception has been explained with the central sensitization hypothesis, which may occur after neuropathy, its molecular mechanism is not understood. The marked female predominance among FMS patients is often attributed to a psychosocial predisposition of the female gender, but here we will focus on sex differences in neurobiological processes, specifically those of the immune system, as various immunological biomarkers are altered in FMS. The activation of innate immune sensors is compatible with a neuropathy or virus-induced autoimmune diseases. Considering sex differences in the immune system and the clustering of FMS with autoimmune diseases, we hypothesize that the female predominance in FMS is due to a neuropathy-induced autoimmune pathophysiology. We invite the scientific community to verify the autoimmune hypothesis for FMS.
ISSN:1662-4548
1662-453X
1662-453X
DOI:10.3389/fnins.2019.01414