Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) can trigger chronic inflammation in the liver, which gradually progresses to liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, and ultimately increases the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms and sex-specific regulatory pathways involved remain not fully elucidated. This article focuses on the analysis of the study published by Groover et al. This study concentrates on the expression characteristics of estrogen receptor (ER) subtypes (ERα, ERβ) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the liver, and explores the impact of sex-based relative expression differences of these molecules on the pathogenic mechanism of HCV. Based on this study, this article proposes future research directions to provide references for in-depth analysis of the mechanism underlying HCV-mediated development and progression of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, as well as for promoting the development of sex-specific prevention and treatment strategies.
Wan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.