The Role of Sex in Acute and Chronic Liver Damage

Abstract

Acute and chronic hepatic damages are caused by xenobiotics or different diseases affecting the liver, characterized by different etiologies and pathological features. It has been demonstrated extensively that liver damage progresses differently in men and women, and some chronic liver diseases show a more favorable prognosis in women than in men. This review aims to update the most recent advances in the comprehension of the molecular basis of the sex difference observed in both acute and chronic liver damage. With this purpose, we report experimental studies on animal models and clinical observations investigating both acute liver failure, e.g., drug-induced liver injury (DILI), and chronic liver diseases, e.g., viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease (ALD), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), autoimmune liver diseases, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).