Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 30th 2016

This study expands on the idea that loss of Y, already a known risk factor for cancer, could be a predictive biomarker for a wider range of poor health outcomes, specifically Alzheimer's. Why loss of Y can be linked to an increased risk for disease remains unclear, but the authors speculate it has to do with reduced immune system performance. The researchers looked at over 3,000 men to ascertain whether there was any predictive association between loss of Y in blood cells and Alzheimer's disease. The participants came from three long-term studies that could provide regular blood samples: the European Alzheimer's Disease Initiative, the Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men, and the Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors. Across the datasets, those with the highest fraction of blood cells without a Y chromosome were consistently more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's. "Having loss of Y is not 100 percent predictive that you will have either cancer or Alzheimer's, as there were men in the study who had the mutation and lived with no symptoms well into their 90s. But in the future, loss of Y in blood cells can become a new biomarker for disease risk and perhaps evaluation can make a difference in detecting and treating problems early." The researchers will next investigate the effect of loss of Y in larger cohorts and explore in greater detail how it confers risk for specific types of cancers and disease. They also plan to look at the cell...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs