{"id":57157,"date":"2026-02-12T08:44:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T08:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/study-reveals-gene-networks-driving-sex-differences-in-respiratory-health\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T13:30:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:30:56","slug":"study-reveals-gene-networks-driving-sex-differences-in-respiratory-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/study-reveals-gene-networks-driving-sex-differences-in-respiratory-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Study reveals gene networks driving sex differences in respiratory health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The study, led by Australia&#8217;s University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, is the first to show that sex modulates gene networks controlling bronchial responsiveness under normal physiological conditions, said a UTS statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Biological sex fundamentally shapes how the lungs function, even under healthy, non-diseased conditions,&#8221; said study lead author, UTS and Woolcock Institute Research Fellow Razia Zakarya.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Male lungs are intrinsically more reactive to inhaled triggers than female lungs, which helps explain why the sexes experience respiratory disease differently,&#8221; Zakarya said, adding these differences arise from discrete gene network activity rather than a single gene or hormone.<\/p>\n<p>The study, published in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology journal, shows that sex differences in lung function exist at a deep molecular level, long before disease develops.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Essentially, the sexes utilize different genetic toolboxes when exposed to environmental factors,&#8221; Zakarya said.<\/p>\n<p>The team also found that early-life environmental exposures could alter these molecular networks in sex-specific ways, potentially influencing vulnerability to diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.<\/p>\n<p>Zakarya said the findings underscore the need for sex-inclusive biomedical and environmental health research from the earliest stages of discovery.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-101979\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/png\/ai-2.png\" alt=\"Male and female lungs are &quot;wired differently&quot; at the molecular level, a new study confirms, providing further evidence supporting sex-inclusive respiratory disease research and treatment. AI generated photo \" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Male and female lungs are &#8220;wired differently&#8221; at the molecular level, a new study confirms, providing further evidence supporting sex-inclusive respiratory disease research and treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2000101978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[151,75],"byline":[235],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-57157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-editors-choice","tag-homenews","byline-xinhua"],"bylines":[{"id":235,"name":"Xinhua","slug":"xinhua","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":80}],"contributors":[{"id":235,"name":"Xinhua","slug":"xinhua","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":80}],"featured_image":{"id":2000101978,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ai-3.png","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/png","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ai-3.png","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ai-3.png","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ai-3.png","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ai-3.png","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ai-3.png","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000102163,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57157\/revisions\/2000102163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000101978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57157"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=57157"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=57157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}