Minipuberty and Sexual Dimorphism in the Infant Human Thymus

AIRE expression in thymus is downregulated by estrogen after puberty, what probably renders women more susceptible to autoimmune disorders. Here we investigated the effects of minipuberty on male and female infant human thymic tissue in order to verify if this initial transient increase in sex hormones - along the first six months of life - could affect thymic transcriptional network regulation and AIRE expression. Gene co-expression network analysis for differentially expressed genes and miRNA-target analysis revealed sex differences in thymic tissue during minipuberty, but such sex differences were not detected in thymic tissues from donors aged 7-18 moths of age, the non-puberty group. AIRE expression was essentially the same in both sexes in minipuberty and in non-puberty groups, as assessed by genomic and immunohistochemical assays. However, AIRE-interactors networks showed several differences in all groups regarding gene-gene expression correlation. Therefore, minipuberty and genomic mechanisms interact in shaping thymic sexual dimorphism along the first six moths of life. This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below. Thymus transcriptomic profiles of patients undergoing minipuberty comparing male versus female infants in order to identify differentially expressed transcripts. Refer to individual Series