Over the last decade, many drugs that have been pulled from the market due to toxicity were withdrawn because they affected women more than men. It turns out, the studies that brought the drugs to market were designed using only male cells and animal models, a common flaw a Tulane endocrinologist is working to help correct.
"We really need to study both sexes," says the senior author of a newly published article in the journal Cell Metabolism to help scientists who study obesity, diabetes or other metabolic diseases better account for inherent sex differences in research. "The focus on a single sex threatens to limit the impact of research findings as results may be relevant to only half of the population."
While the National Institutes of Health recently mandated researchers consider sex as a biological variable by including both sexes in pre-clinical research, there is little guidance in designing studies to fully consider sex differences in underlying biological mechanisms. The article outlines the causes of sex differences in research models and the methods for investigators to account for these factors.
The goal is to help investigators better understand that sex differences are not simply a superficial aspect of research that only account for different sets of hormones. The lead author maintains that male and female are two different biological systems.
This Perspective discusses experimental design and interpretation in studies addressing the mechanisms of sex differences in metabolic homeostasis and disease, using animal models and cells. The study also highlight current limitations in research tools and attitudes that threaten to delay progress in studies of sex differences in basic animal research.
"Sex differences are at the core of the mechanism for biological traits and disease," senior author says. "We believe that the incorporation of appropriately designed studies on sex differences in metabolism and other fields will accelerate discovery and enhance our ability to treat disease. This is the fundamental basis of precision medicine,"
http://news.tulane.edu/pr/does-sex-cell-matter-research
http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131(17)30286-3
Does the sex of a cell matter in research?
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