Men find it unfavorable to lose too much of the Y chromosome in some cells with age. This shortens the lives of men and increases their susceptibility to cancer – according to research conducted by prof. Jan Dumanski from Uppsala University.
Information on this is provided in the latest issue of Nature Genetics.
The biological role of the Y chromosome, a symbol of masculinity, has been underplayed for many years. There has been a lot of research to suggest that it contains little or no significant genetic information. Recent studies show that this is a wrong opinion. The male chromosome has a significant impact on men’s lives.
It’s not true. Our research has shown that the Y chromosome plays an important role in inhibiting the growth of neoplasms, which explains why men suffer from cancer more often than women “- emphasizes Prof. Dumanski from Uppsala University’s department of immunology, genetics and pathology, which led the international research.
More than 1 older men were included and blood samples were taken to test their DNA. They looked for genetic changes in them. It was found that most of these were related to the loss of the Y chromosome in white blood cells (leukocytes). (Each human cell contains 600 pairs of homologous chromosomes and two sex chromosomes – XX or XY).
It turned out that the loss of the Y chromosome affects morbidity and life expectancy. Lars Forsberg from the same department at Uppsala University, who also participated in the study, points out that it shows that men with a greater loss of the Y chromosome in leukocytes have a shorter life span. They also die more frequently from cancer.
How does the Y chromosome and its loss in blood cells affect the greater risk of developing and dying from cancer, and shorter life for men in general?
We are still working on understanding this mechanism – told PAP Prof. Dumanski. – We suspect that the so-called the “immunosurveilance” mechanism is not working as it should. This means that cancer cells throughout the body are not being eliminated by the immune system, which fights cancer throughout its life. There is a gene on the Y chromosome that is responsible for these functions.
But how is the Y chromosome lost, and why is it tolerated by the body?
Prof. Dumanski claims that because the Y chromosome is a small chromosome (it has few genes), such loss is tolerated by cells because they do not die from apoptosis (the so-called suicide death triggered when a cell has serious abnormalities – PAP)). . At the same time, the proliferation of cells without the Y chromosome is greater (which is conducive to neoplastic changes – PAP).
It is not known whether in the future it will be possible to develop tests to determine the greater susceptibility to cancer of those men who will experience a loss of the Y chromosome in their cells.
Prof. Jan Dumanski was born in 1960 in Krakow, where in 1979-84 he studied at the then Medical Academy (now Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University). In 1985 he moved to Sweden, and in 1990 he obtained his doctorate at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, where he also obtained the title of professor. In 2000 he moved to the University of Uppsala. His wife is also a professor at the same university.
Zbigniew Wojtasiński (PAP)