Estrogen: Women strong in the fight against kidney damage!

Estrogen: Women strong in the fight against kidney damage!

Acute kidney injury has become an increasingly common clinical challenge in recent years. Worldwide, the number of people with kidney disease is booming, often undetected and irreversible. A research team from Dresden and Heidelberg has now made significant progress in gender research. It turns out that estrogen plays a protective role in this context. Loud idw online Estradiol, the main estrogen, protects the kidneys from damage caused by ferroptosis, also known as “biological rust”.

The current study, led by renowned scientists Prof. Andreas Linkermann and Prof. Stefan Bornstein, highlights how estrogen increases resistance to these harmful processes. According to this, estradiol acts as a kind of “interceptor” for harmful radicals and at the same time activates a genetic program that protects against kidney damage. These findings illustrate the enormous importance of sex hormones for our health and mark a major step towards gender-specific medicine.

Estrogen and ferroptosis

The researchers discovered that women are less susceptible to acute kidney failure than men - a phenomenon that has been known since 1940. But now scientists at the University of Heidelberg, Mannheim Medical Faculty, have explained why this is so. In their study, published in the journal Nature, they found that estrogens block ferroptosis. The derivative 2-hydroxyestradiol proved to be particularly relevant in this protective mechanism innovation report reported.

Estrogen works through both genomic and non-genomic mechanisms. The estrogen receptor regulates the production of hydropersulfides, which actively combat ferroptosis. These discoveries could not only revolutionize the treatment of kidney disease, but also have far-reaching implications for other disease processes, such as heart disease and stroke, where gender differences are also important.

The relevance of gender-specific medicine

The findings from this research shed new light on the need to further explore and consider gender differences in medicine. More and more experts are calling for a foundation of gender-equitable approaches in medical training and research. In its reports, the German Association of Women Doctors points out the urgent need to integrate gender-specific aspects into health care and the creation of standards for corresponding studies, such as Association of Female Doctors can be read.

A gender-sensitive approach to health is not only forward-looking, but also urgently necessary. The findings about the role of sex hormones in kidney disease are just one example of how important an individual understanding of diseases is in order to develop tailored therapies.

The research project was financed with the support of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and other funding programs, which underlines the investment in gender-specific medicine and its further development. The results could not only benefit individual patients, but also sustainably improve the entire medical care system.