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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Oct 10.
Published in final edited form as: J Immunother Appl. 2014 Mar 7;1:1. doi: 10.7243/2055-2394-1-1

Figure 1. A model of sex differences in monocytes and TLR4 responsiveness.

Figure 1

The effect of sex hormones (e.g., estrogen) on TLR4 responsiveness and monocyte activation could be through direct activation of monocytes, or through indirect activation of monocytes. These actions include estrogen effects on TLR4 expression, TLR4 signaling pathways, LPS interaction cofactors (e.g., TLR4, CD14, MD2 and LBP), and levels of TLR4 ligands. As a consequence of monocyte activation and altered TLR4 responsiveness, there are increased levels of downstream pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g, TNFα, IL-1β and IL-6), which play a role in autoimmune diseases such as SLE.