Affiliations: Department of Medicine, The University of Chicago,
Chicago, IL, USA | Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and
Pharmacogenomics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA | Cancer Research Center, The University of Chicago,
Chicago, IL, USA
Note: [] Corresponding author: M. Eileen Dolan, Section of
Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, 5841 S Maryland Ave. MC 2115, The
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Tel.: +1 773 702 4441; Fax: +1
773 702 0963; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Men and women differ not only in their physical attributes and
reproductive functions but also in many other characteristics, including the
risks for some diseases as well as response to certain therapeutic treatments.
Though genetically-identical for autosomal chromosomes, males and females could
have gender-specific transcriptional or translational regulation, leading to
differential mRNAs or protein products for some genes. To illustrate the
gender-specific differences in mRNA-level expression, we compared gene
expression patterns between males and females using a whole-genome microarray
dataset on the unrelated HapMap lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from
individuals of European (58 individuals) and African (59 individuals) ancestry.
We applied the Gene Set Enrichment Analysis to identify any overrepresented
predefined gene sets in either men or women. Distinct patterns of upregulation
and downregulation of certain chromosomal regions and other gene sets such as
targets for certain microRNAs and transcription factors were identified in
males or females, suggesting their potential roles in defining the
gender-specific phenotypes. Gender-specific patterns of gene expression also
appeared to be different between these two populations.
