Sexual dimorphism in the immune system transcriptional response to interferon

Sexual dimorphism in the mammalian immune system is manifested as more frequent and severe infectious diseases in males and, on the other hand, higher rates of autoimmune disease in females, yet a full map of the transcriptional changes beyond those differences is still lacking. We characterized sex differences in the immune system by bulk and single cell RNA sequencing of untreated and interferon-induced immune cell types in male and female mice. We detected changes in gene expression and interferon response between sexes. However, the level of heterogeneity between cells of each cell type, and the transcriptional modules induced by interferon are very similar. Thus, the stronger immune response of females may be due to more activated innate immune pathways prior to pathogen invasion.