A new research from Finland said last Thursday that their study reveals that smoking can kill the Y chromosome in men's blood cells that make them more prone to diseases associated with smoking than women. The team of researchers has shown that men who are missing the Y chromosome from their red blood cells have higher risk for cancer.
The study which was published in Science, the researchers studied the blood samples of 6,000 men and their lifestyle practices including age, blood pressure, diabetes, and history of smoking and drinking. They found out that the more a man smokes the more chances that they will be missing their Y chromosome in their blood cells. However, men who have quit smoking got their Y chromosome back over time.
According to Lars Forsberg, a researcher at Finland's Uppsala University who is the lead researcher of the study, said in a statement, "This discovery could be very persuasive for motivating smokers to quit."
In genetics, women have both X chromosomes while men have both X and Y chromosomes. The Y chromosomes isn't just for the production of male hormones, it may affect also the way the body fights cancer.
While other studies have shown that men are more likely to get non-lung cancers from smoking than women including bladder cancer and even colon cancer. Their theory states that smoking can damage the DNA and the Y chromosome.
However, Daniel Bellot, a geneticist at MIT who is not part of the study, was surprised by the results of the research. He said that the link between smoking and cancer were usually explained by the effects of the chemicals to the body. Subsequently, the chemicals cause damage to the DNA replication. He added, "It provides more evidence that smoking can cause cancer by a second mechanism wherein it affects the accuracy of cell division that cause gains and losses of chromosomes."
Consequently, according to Robert Benezra, a cell biologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, he thinks that more research is needed. He added that the researchers should try to find out if Y chromosome loss can explain smoking-related diseases in men.