It appears that IL-17, the cytokine that is involved in pertussis pathogen eradication [38] and autoimmune diseases pathways [47], along with associated chemokines IL-1β, IL-23R, IL-6 and many others [44, 47] is significant and may be linked to an estrogen-regulated immune overresponse to pertussis infection in female. The gene discussed is IL23R; the disease is autoimmune disease.