Men with No Sons are more at Risk for Prostate Cancer
January 6, 2007 by Gloria Gamat
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in conjunction with Hebrew University of Jerusalem found, in a new and unique study to determine if genes on the Y chromosome are involved in prostate cancer, that men who had only daughters had a higher risk of prostate cancer than men who had at least one son: signifying a possible defect on the father’s Y chromosome.
Published in the January 3, 2007 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the study results further indicate that the relative risk of prostate cancer decreases as the number of sons increases.
From what is already known: The offspring’s sex depends on whether it receives an X or a Y chromosome from the father. Thus, a man with a damaged Y chromosome will be less likely to have sons and those with a damaged X chromosome may be unable to sire daughters.
Susan Harlap, MD, professor of clinical Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, and the leader of the research team, stated:
“Our findings suggest that the biological significance of lack of sons — whatever it is that leads to increased risk of prostate cancer – becomes increasingly important as family size increases.
Overall, our findings are consistent with hypotheses that tie Y chromosome loci to prostate cancer, although other explanations cannot be excluded.”
More details from the press release.
