Serveur Académique Lausannois SERVAL serval.unil.ch Author Manuscript Faculty of Biology and Medicine Publication This paper has been peer-reviewed but does not include the final publisher proof-corrections or journal pagination. Published in final edited form as: Title: Sexual dimorphism in cancer. Authors: Clocchiatti A, Cora E, Zhang Y, Dotto GP Journal: Nature reviews. Cancer Year: 2016 May Volume: 16 Issue: 5 Pages: 330-9 DOI: 10.1038/nrc.2016.30 In the absence of a copyright statement, users should assume that standard copyright protection applies, unless the article contains an explicit statement to the contrary. In case of doubt, contact the journal publisher to verify the copyright status of an article. Sexual dimorphism in cancer Andrea Clocchiatti1+, Elisa Cora2+, Yosra Zhang1,2 and G. Paolo Dotto1,2* 1Cutaneous Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; 2Department of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, CH-1066, Switzerland + These authors contributed equally to the work * Corresponding author: G. Paolo Dotto email:
[email protected] 1 Abstract The incidence of many cancer types is significantly higher in the male than female populations, with associated differences in survival. Occupational and/or behavioral factors are well known underlying determinants. However, cellular/molecular differences between the two sexes are also likely to be important. We are focusing here on the complex interplay that sexual hormones and sex chromosomes can have in intrinsic control of cancer initiating cell populations, tumor microenvironment and systemic determinants of cancer development like the immune system and metabolism. A better appreciation of these differences between the two sexes could be of substantial value for cancer prevention as well as treatment.