December 12, 2009 7:34 PM GMT
This is the originating article for the TRANNYWEB TG NEWS feed story on a recent scientific breakthrough. I posted it here because it has the potential to dramatically alter HRT as it is currently practiced. I recommend reading both articles for more content.
Here is the TTN article:
http://www.examiner.com/x[...]News%29
"it could have implications for transsexual people as far as manipulating the hormones that the body is able to naturally produce."
http://www.dailymail.co.u[...]er.html
"
The research, detailed in the respected journal Cell, centred on two genes, one called Sox9, which is crucial for the development of testes in the womb, and another called FoxL2.
The finding is significant because it means that a baby's sex is not determined solely by X and Y chromosomes in the sperm..."
"...He said no one would have previously suspected or believed that an adult organ could be altered to such an extent by changing a single gene."
"...But in adult animals it is the male pathway that needs to be actively suppressed...Although it seems to make the issue of gender even more complicated I think it rather simplifies it because there is this constant yin and yang where female promoting genes are fighting male promoting ones and whichever wins decides whether you are a boy or a girl.'
Do not draw too much of a conclusion with much of the original scientific article missing. Also, remember that the obvious benefits to FtM TS may lead to less obvious ways to reverse the effects and benefit MtF TS, particularly those with those who would rather be non-TS than MtF, but possibly a road to internal sex hormone regulation has been opened.
The significant point in this one, of course, is that it scientifically refutes the concept that one chooses to be transgendered by showing a specific instance of how genes can overcome sex chromosomes.
