Physicians and scientists have long known that (1) women get more autoimmune diseases than men; (2) dosage compensation for the second X chromosome in female cells likely played some role in that; (3) RNA-protein complexes are often targeted by autoantibodies; and (4) Xist is part of an RNA-protein complex involved in X inactivation. Yet no one had ever looked to see if Xist itself might underlie the greater propensity of women to develop autoimmune diseases. Finally, someone put all these logical pieces together and found out that it does. Hopefully, this research will reveal some new and effective targets for the diagnosis, monitoring, stratification, and treatment of this suite of diseases.
Single paper, mouse subjects, further study needed, all the usual caveats, but having a target to look at may improve outlook for managing autoimmune disease far better than “yeah, it really sucks to have XX chromosomes, right?”
