Posted on 07/14/2022 10:00:07 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
The loss of the male sex chromosome as many men age causes the heart muscle to scar and can lead to deadly heart failure, new research shows. The finding may help explain why men die, on average, several years younger than women.
Kenneth Walsh, Ph.D., says the new discovery suggests that men who suffer Y chromosome loss—estimated to include 40% of 70-year-olds—may particularly benefit from an existing drug that targets dangerous tissue scarring. The drug, he suspects, may help counteract the harmful effects of the chromosome loss—effects that may manifest not just in the heart but in other parts of the body as well.
On average, women live five years longer than men in the United States. The new finding, Walsh estimates, may explain nearly four of the five-year difference.
…The scientists also looked at the effects of Y chromosome loss in human men. They conducted three analyses of data compiled from the UK Biobank, a massive biomedical database, and found that Y chromosome loss was associated with cardiovascular disease and heart failure. As chromosome loss increased, the scientists found, so did the risk of death.
Walsh notes that one potential treatment option might be a drug, pirfenidone, that has been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a form of lung scarring. The drug is also being tested for the treatment of heart failure and chronic kidney disease, two conditions for which tissue scarring is a hallmark. Based on his research, Walsh believes that men with Y chromosome loss could respond particularly well to this drug, and other classes of antifibrotic drugs that are being developed, though more research will be needed to determine that.
At the moment, doctors have no easy way to determine which men suffer Y chromosome loss.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
It appears smoking greatly encourages this, along with the breakdown of general processes that normally repair DNA, overtime.
Our sperm, thankfully, never changes, but it appears a lot of other cells, can.
Yikes!
Sperm does change but not much. Not as much. Sperm is always being created so its fresh new cells all the time.
Keeping testosterone up can prevent a lot of problems as you age.
I am finding treadmill 5 times every week is keeping me out of doctor’s offices in my early 80’s. Heart runs smooth and quiet, don’t even breathe heavy climbing 2 flights of stairs.
I do not take any supplements except 1 a day vitamin pills.
Men have the Y chromosome in every cell, right?
And, they just disappear?
Probably good news if you want to become a transsexual after age 70.
>> The finding may help explain why men die, on average, several years younger than women.
Huh? I thought men died earlier than their wives because they WANTED to.
j/k wifey, if you’re reading this! :-)
How can you lose a chromosome?
Sounds like a great daily routine. Long live with good health!
I used to hear that the average woman ‘lived longer’ than the average man because women have high levels of estrogen, whereas, the testosterone levels that make men male also tend to wear out certain organs faster; i.e. the heart.
Maybe that was just an Old Wive’s Tale.
That closes the deal. I'm out to get myself some of that magic right now...
Actually, there is a large cohort of individuals who live their entire lives possessing neither a xx chromosome, or an xy chromosome, but only a single x chromosome. They are all women, and they are described as suffering from “Turner’s syndrome.”
They have a variety of unusual, but sometimes quite subtle, symptoms. These range from infertility, being very short, having a high palate, ear issues, and moon shaped nails.
I had never heard that men can lose their y chromosome as they age, though.
Good Grief, this joker is not even a medical Doctor.
what a load of crap!
excuse me, i have to adjust my makeup
btw Y is reality for those confused
Telomeres.
Each time a cell divides, the telomeres become slightly shorter.
Eventually, they become so short that the cell can no longer divide successfully, and the cell dies.
The above is my guess of what the author is referring to.
Sounds right
Apparently the bone marrow cells that create new blood cells lose the Y chromosome, so some percentage of blood cell in turn lack the Y.
Must be like loose change - falls out of your pocket -
if you're lucky you find it under the couch cushions...
/s
Win the war, make the babies, move the furniture, repeat...
Life depends on the y-chrom.
If you don’t have one, get the jab.
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