“…Similarly, our analysis of the human GTEx data showed that female-biased genes were enriched for microglial markers (OR = 4.607, p adj = 0.003) and endothelial markers (OR = 17.233, p adj < 0.001) ( Table S8 ), although sex differences in SPVs were only significant for endothelial cells ( p adj < 0.001) ( Figure 3 D; Table S9 ). These findings are consistent with (1) previous analyses of the human GTEx data, 45 (2) the presence of a neurodevelopmental gene co-expression module in postnatal human brains that is enriched for both microglial markers and female-biased genes (ME3), 46 (3) reports of female-biased microglial proportions in adult humans, 47 and (4) our finding that human-macaque conserved female-biased genes (LMM p adj < 0.05 and mashr β < 0; n = 1,105 genes; STAR Methods ) were enriched for immune-related biological processes ( g:Profiler p adj < 0.05) ( Figure 3 E; Tables S10 – S12 ). This shared pattern may reflect evolved sex differences in immune surveillance and response due to the need for birthing people to tolerate an internal, immunologically challenging pregnancy.…”