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Journal Article Review Epublish 130 citations

PubMed: 35706042 DOI: 10.1186/s13293-022-00440-4

Sex differences in the human metabolome.

Biol Sex Differ 13(1):30

Authors: Michele Costanzo, Marianna Caterino, Giovanni Sotgiu, Margherita Ruoppolo, Flavia Franconi, Ilaria Campesi

Affiliations

  • Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, School of Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, 80131, Naples, Italy.
  • CEINGE - Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c.ar.l. 80145, Naples, Italy.
  • Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, School of Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, 80131, Naples, Italy.
  • CEINGE - Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c.ar.l. 80145, Naples, Italy.
  • Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Statistics Unit, Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
  • Laboratory of Sex-Gender Medicine, National Institute of Biostructures and Biosystems, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
  • Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, 07100, Sassari, Italy.

Abstract

BACKGROUND

The sexual dimorphism represents one of the triggers of the metabolic disparities between the organisms, advising about wild implications in research or diagnostics contexts. Despite the mounting recognition of the importance of sex consideration in the biomedical fields, the identification of male- and female-specific metabolic signatures has not been achieved.

MAIN BODY

This review pointed the focus on the metabolic differences related to the sex, evidenced by metabolomics studies performed on healthy populations, with the leading aim of understanding how the sex influences the baseline metabolome. The main shared signatures and the apparent dissimilarities between males and females were extracted and highlighted from the metabolome of the most commonly analyzed biological fluids, such as serum, plasma, and urine. Furthermore, the influence of age and the significant interactions between sex and age have been taken into account.

CONCLUSIONS

The recognition of sex patterns in human metabolomics has been defined in diverse biofluids. The detection of sex- and age-related differences in the metabolome of healthy individuals are helpful for translational applications from the bench to the bedside to set targeted diagnostic and prevention approaches in the context of personalized medicine.

MeSH

Metabolomics, Sex Characteristics, Sex, Sex Differences

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