In an article published Thursday by the University of Virginia School of Medicine, scientists revealed that men who lost their Y chromosomes had their lifespans negatively impacted.
The new study used mice with modified genetics that cause them to lose their Y chromosome. Kenneth Walsh, the director of the Hematovascular Biology Center at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, stated that the mice “aged poorly”. These mice developed scar tissue in their hearts, kidneys and lungs, resulting in a shortened lifespan. They also experienced nonischemic heart failure, any form of heart failure that is not caused by a heart attack.
Researchers have not yet discovered a way to reduce the risk of losing the Y chromosome, other than to quit smoking. They have also found that testosterone does not directly affect the condition.
“The chromosome is lost sporadically from blood cells during cell division, when it is kicked out of some cells and then disintegrates. The result is what researchers call a mosaic loss of Y,” The New York Times states.
According to The New York Times and the data from the UK Biobank involving 223,173 men, men with “mosaic loss of Y had a 41 percent increased risk of dying from any cause during a seven-year follow-up and a 31 percent increased chance of dying from any cardiovascular disease”. The percentages increased the more cells lost the Y chromosome.
Soon after the discovery, other researchers started to publish similar findings as well. The New York Times estimates that about 20 independent papers thereafter showed “associations between loss of the Y chromosome in blood cells and heart disease, shortened life spans and various age-related diseases like solid tumors and blood cancers”.
Dr. Ross Levine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s translational research deputy physician in chief, stated, “The authors really nailed it here. It’s super important work.”
Link to article: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1658069737769x909187458978607700/As%20Y%20Chromosomes%20Vanish%20With%20Age%2C%20Heart%20Risks%20May%20Grow%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf
The new study used mice with modified genetics that cause them to lose their Y chromosome. Kenneth Walsh, the director of the Hematovascular Biology Center at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, stated that the mice “aged poorly”. These mice developed scar tissue in their hearts, kidneys and lungs, resulting in a shortened lifespan. They also experienced nonischemic heart failure, any form of heart failure that is not caused by a heart attack.
Researchers have not yet discovered a way to reduce the risk of losing the Y chromosome, other than to quit smoking. They have also found that testosterone does not directly affect the condition.
“The chromosome is lost sporadically from blood cells during cell division, when it is kicked out of some cells and then disintegrates. The result is what researchers call a mosaic loss of Y,” The New York Times states.
According to The New York Times and the data from the UK Biobank involving 223,173 men, men with “mosaic loss of Y had a 41 percent increased risk of dying from any cause during a seven-year follow-up and a 31 percent increased chance of dying from any cardiovascular disease”. The percentages increased the more cells lost the Y chromosome.
Soon after the discovery, other researchers started to publish similar findings as well. The New York Times estimates that about 20 independent papers thereafter showed “associations between loss of the Y chromosome in blood cells and heart disease, shortened life spans and various age-related diseases like solid tumors and blood cancers”.
Dr. Ross Levine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s translational research deputy physician in chief, stated, “The authors really nailed it here. It’s super important work.”
Link to article: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1658069737769x909187458978607700/As%20Y%20Chromosomes%20Vanish%20With%20Age%2C%20Heart%20Risks%20May%20Grow%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf
