Lars Forsberg, a researcher at Uppsala University, spent years digging deeper on the loss of Y chromosomes. He was intrigued to find of that the increased vanishing is more than just a sign of aging. Men who lose their Y chromosomes have an increased risk for heart failure, cancer, and other chronic diseases.
At least 40% of males lose their Y chromosomes by the age of 70. The chromosomes are “kicked out” of some cells like when you kick out someone from your house and eventually disintegrate. Curious about this, Dr. Forsberg looked the data on 1,153 aging men from a study known as the Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Aging Men.
“I had the data in a few hours, and I was like, ‘Wow,’” Dr. Forsberg said. “I saw that men with loss of Y in a large proportion of their blood cells survived only half as long, 5.5 years versus 11.1 years.”
His discovery was published in the journal Nature Genetics, reporting that death rates were associated closely with the loss of Y.
At this point, Dr. Forsberg inspired Kenneth Walsh, the director of the Hematovascular Biology Center at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Dr. Walsh wondered if there was a direct cause and effect between loss of Y in blood cells and diseases. This eventually led to his recent study with a particular subject: mice.
Dr. Walsh found that when the Y was gone from the blood cells of the mice, it led to nonischemic heart failure and shortened life spans. Due the men and mice sharing the same scar tissue that can build up in the heart, he presumes the scars can change the health of both species.
As it turns out, men with mosaic loss of Y had a 41% increase in dying from any cause during the seven-year follow-up and a 31% increased chance of dying from cardiovascular diseases. The more cells without Y chromosomes, the greater the risk is that they all leave the party.
There is little one can do to reduce the risk of losing Y chromosomes but refrain from smoking – if you don’t smoke.
Sources
• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/health/y-chromosome-heart-failure.html
• https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn3100
At least 40% of males lose their Y chromosomes by the age of 70. The chromosomes are “kicked out” of some cells like when you kick out someone from your house and eventually disintegrate. Curious about this, Dr. Forsberg looked the data on 1,153 aging men from a study known as the Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Aging Men.
“I had the data in a few hours, and I was like, ‘Wow,’” Dr. Forsberg said. “I saw that men with loss of Y in a large proportion of their blood cells survived only half as long, 5.5 years versus 11.1 years.”
His discovery was published in the journal Nature Genetics, reporting that death rates were associated closely with the loss of Y.
At this point, Dr. Forsberg inspired Kenneth Walsh, the director of the Hematovascular Biology Center at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Dr. Walsh wondered if there was a direct cause and effect between loss of Y in blood cells and diseases. This eventually led to his recent study with a particular subject: mice.
Dr. Walsh found that when the Y was gone from the blood cells of the mice, it led to nonischemic heart failure and shortened life spans. Due the men and mice sharing the same scar tissue that can build up in the heart, he presumes the scars can change the health of both species.
As it turns out, men with mosaic loss of Y had a 41% increase in dying from any cause during the seven-year follow-up and a 31% increased chance of dying from cardiovascular diseases. The more cells without Y chromosomes, the greater the risk is that they all leave the party.
There is little one can do to reduce the risk of losing Y chromosomes but refrain from smoking – if you don’t smoke.
Sources
• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/health/y-chromosome-heart-failure.html
• https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn3100
