Women with Alzheimer’s live longer than men with the disease, and scientists at UC San Francisco now have evidence from research in both humans and mice that this is because they have genetic protection from the ravages of the disease.
By virtue of having a second X chromosome, women get two “doses” of a protective protein from a gene that only exists on this female sex chromosome. Some people, both male and female, have an especially potent variant of this gene, which is called KDM6A, that gives them even more protection. But, because of the way sex chromosomes work—women have two X’s, but…
