They explain why diseases affect men and women differently.

Why do men and women differ in their risk of certain diseases, symptoms, and health outcomes?

Published in Nature Communications , a study led by researchers at Queen Mary University of London reveals new biological mechanisms that could explain it.

The study analyzed data from 56,000 people from the UK Biobank and the Fenland study, assessing the genetic relationship between approximately 6,000 proteins and hundreds of diseases.

The results show that for two-thirds of these proteins , blood levels vary significantly between men and women.

However, only about 100 proteins showed differences in the genetic mechanisms that regulate their production, suggesting that genetic factors are not solely responsible for these differences.

" Protein expression differs between the sexes, but these differences are not exclusively due to genetics ," explains Mine Koprulu, lead author of the study. "Non-genetic factors such as social environment, access to resources, education, work, and lifestyle also have a significant impact and should be taken more seriously."

For author Claudia Langenberg, these "results show that, with few exceptions, the genetic mechanisms that regulate proteins are very similar between men and women. This supports the idea that many scientific discoveries can be applied to both sexes, but also points out that there are areas where a one-size-fits-all approach is not sufficient."

The study classifies individuals as male or female based on their chromosomal information (XX or XY), a decision driven by the genetic nature of the analysis. The authors acknowledge that this classification does not necessarily reflect the participants' gender identity, but it was necessary given that data on gender identity were not uniformly available.

The work reinforces the need to integrate both biological and social factors into understanding health differences between men and women, with the goal of designing more personalized and equitable treatments.