Or: All apologies to Mr. Young
Recent post in Science Daily that raised some questions —
Men Are Losing Their Y Chromosome – and It May Be Deadly
Does loss of Y cause disease and mortality in older men?
Figuring out what causes the links between loss of Y and health problems is difficult. They might occur because health problems cause loss of Y, or perhaps a third factor might cause both.
Even strong associations can’t prove causation. The association with kidney or heart disease could result from rapid cell division during organ repair, for instance.
Cancer associations might reflect a genetic predisposition for genome instability. Indeed, whole genome association studies show loss of Y frequency is about one-third genetic, involving 150 identified genes largely involved in cell cycle regulation and cancer susceptibility.
However, one mouse study points to a direct effect. Researchers transplanted Y-deficient blood cells into irradiated mice, which then displayed increased frequencies of age-related pathologies including poorer cardiac function and subsequent heart failure.
Similarly, loss of Y from cancer cells seems to affect cell growth and malignancy directly, possibly driving eye melanoma, which is more frequent in men.