Production: Ramiro Angulo
A team of researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center promoted by La Caixa in collaboration with the Pompeu Fabra University, the University of Adelaide and the Estoni Genomic Center, has just revealed why men are more susceptible to suffer from cancer than women. The fact that they had more ballots of contracting the disease was already known thanks to previous research, but why this still remained an enigma. Well, the reason, according to this latest study, could be in the Y sex chromosome, present only in men, and more specifically when it loses the function of six key genes.
“Recent studies had shown that, as they age, the cells of some men tend to completely lose the Y chromosome, which is essential for the sexual differentiation of the fetus,” says Juan Ramón González, coordinator of the study and head of the Bioinformatics Group at ISGlobal Genetic Epidemiology. “Although the loss of the Y chromosome had previously been associated with a higher incidence of cancer, the causes of this relationship were not known.”
But what are the reasons why the Y chromosome can be lost? Researchers suggest that it can lose its function and then be suppressed. It can also disappear as a consequence of other mechanisms involving chemical (epigenetic) inactivity. “Certain environmental exposures, such as tobacco and other toxins, could affect the function of the chromosome, altering its epigenetics,” says González. And he concludes, “our results open the door to the development of targeted detection methods and specific therapies for men with cancer.”
Returning to the six key genes to which the study refers, these are involved in the regulation of the cell cycle , a process that, when it fails, can lead to the development of tumors. These genes have a very similar copy on the X chromosome and “if, in addition, the copy of the X chromosome mutates in the same cells (which has been shown to occur), the possible biological protection of these genes against cancer is completely lost,” he says. Alejandro Cáceres, first author of the study.
According to the results of the study, investigating the biological differences between men and women in cancer could lead to the development of personalized treatments and prevention measures. “Men not only suffer more from cancer than women, but also have a worse prognosis,” says González. “In fact, the lower life expectancy of men compared to women is explained, in part, for this reason.”
