%0 Journal Article
%T Why does Jack, and not Jill, break his crown? Sex disparity in brain tumors
%A Tao Sun
%A Nicole M Warrington
%A Joshua B Rubin
%J Biology of Sex Differences
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/2042-6410-3-3
%X Primary brain tumors, including both malignant (high-grade) and benign (low-grade) tumors, are highly morbid and life-threatening diseases, particularly as a function of tumor histology, tumor location, and patient age [1-4]. For many common brain tumors, outcome has not improved significantly over the past 25 years despite enormous advancements in neuroimaging, neurosurgery, molecular diagnostics and chemotherapy [5]. Thus, much of current research focuses on those aspects of tumor cell biology and patient characteristics that drive tumorigenesis and resistance to therapy. In this regard, the greater prevalence of primary and metastatic brain tumors in males compared to females, regardless of age, tumor histology and region of the world, strongly suggests that sex is an important determinant of brain tumor biology. Further evaluation of the molecular mechanisms by which sex affects brain tumorigenesis could have significant impact on our understanding of tumorigenesis in the brain and our approaches to treatment of males and females with brain tumors. In the following, we review the epidemiology of parenchymal brain tumors with an emphasis on the relationship between sex and brain tumor incidence, and explore sexually dimorphic mechanisms that could potentially underlie this critical element of brain tumor biology.Cancer rates often exhibit geographical variation suggestive of racial and environmental influences on tumorigenesis [6-9]. To determine whether similar regional and racial factors influence how sex correlates with brain tumor incidence, we retrospectively reviewed 16 independent reports in which data regarding sex and brain tumor histology was readily available [2,10-24]. A clear predominance of brain tumors in males was evident in reports from 15 different countries on 6 continents in which the ratio of cases in males compared to females ranged from > 1 to 3.5 for the major histological subtypes of central nervous system (CNS) parenchymal diseases inclu
%K sex
%K brain tumors
%K brain metastases
%K sexually dimorphic signaling
%K cytokines
%U http://www.bsd-journal.com/content/3/1/3