爲什麼女性比男性更易得哮喘大綱

Well now, here's an example of gender bias entirely ?configured by Mother Nature - women are more likely than men to get asthma because we lack the protection of the male ?hormone testosterone .

額，這完全是一個由大自然構成的性別偏見的例子--女性比男性更容易患哮喘，這是因爲我們缺乏男性激素睾酮的保護。

We also have more of a particular immune cell which responds to inflammation by producing mucus, leading to coughing and wheezing. Turns out testosterone blocks these injurious immune cells and thereby the development of asthma.

我們體內的特定免疫細胞也更多，這些細胞通過分泌粘液來響應炎症，導致咳嗽和哮鳴。原來睾酮會阻斷這些有害的免疫細胞，從而預防哮喘。

The testosterone which floods male bodies at puberty is thought to protect them, so that they're then less likely to have asthma than women. Female sex hormones don't protect against asthma. But there is an upside.

人們認爲，青春期男性體內流動的睾酮會保護他們，所以他們患哮喘的可能性比女性更低。女性雌激素不能預防哮喘，但也有一個好處。

Senior author Dr Dawn Newcomb, from the University of Vanderbilt, US, said: "Our findings may help develop a treatment for women's asthma."

資深作者、美國範德比爾特大學博士道恩·紐科姆說道："我們的研究結果或有助於找到治療女性哮喘的方法。"

Dr Samantha Walker of Asthma UK said: "While we have known for some time that women are more likely to have asthma than men, this study is promising because it gives us a deeper understanding of the part that hormones play in the condition.

Asthma UK的薩曼莎·沃克說道："雖然我們知道女性比男性更易患哮喘已經有些日子了，但這項研究很有希望，因爲它讓我們更深入的瞭解激素在這種情況下扮演的角色。"

"But this new study goes one step further in identifying a cell which is more prevalent in women with asthma. It also suggests that some hormones can suppress these cells and, in the future, they could be used to help people with asthma."

"但這項新研究更近一步，確定了女性哮喘患者體內更普遍的細胞。同時也表明，有些激素會抑制這些細胞，在未來，這些細胞可被用於幫助哮喘患者。"

The research, led by Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Tennessee, also helps to explain why young boys are more likely to have asthma than girls but only until their teenage years. The US researchers collected blood samples from 21 people of both sexes with and without asthma to discover that women had more of a type of lung cell called ICL2.

這項由田納西州範德比爾特大學醫學中心領導的研究也有助於解釋爲什麼年輕的男孩兒比女孩兒更容易患哮喘，但只是在他們的青少年時期。美國研究人員採集了21位男女的血樣，他們中有些人患有哮喘，有些人沒有哮喘，並發現女性有更多叫做ICL2類型的肺細胞。

These cells are responsible for an abnormal overreaction of the immune system which causes asthma. They do so by producing inflammatory proteins called cytokines, which make it harder to breathe.

這些細胞會導致免疫系統的異常過度反應，從而導致哮喘。它們通過分泌叫做細胞因子的炎性蛋白而達到這一目的，這會造成呼吸困難。

Mice also have these cells and when researchers fed the animals containing testosterone, they found their ICL2 cells produced fewer of these proteins. When female sex hormones like oestrogen and progesterone were used on the mouse cells, they had no protective effect.

小鼠也含有這些細胞，當研究人員餵養含有睾酮的動物時，他們發現動物體內的ICL2細胞分泌的細胞因子蛋白更少。當雌性性激素（比如雌激素和孕激素）也被用於小鼠細胞時，它們沒有任何保護作用。