生物谷报道：以色列的一项研究发现，只有女儿的父亲罹患前列腺癌的风险要高于至少有一个儿子的父亲。这暗示着Y 染色体可能在前列腺癌中发挥作用。纽约哥伦比亚大学的Susan Harlap博士及其同僚在国家癌症协会1月份的第3期期刊上撰文指出：“从总体上看，尽管其他的解释还不能被排除在外，但我们的发现的确和‘Y 染色体与前列腺癌有联系’的假设是相一致的。”
在一项家庭研究中，共有38934位父亲在从他们子女出生时开始的长达40年的追踪调查，其中712位父亲最后罹患了前列腺癌。与至少有一个儿子的父亲相比较，只有女儿的父亲罹患前列腺癌的相对风险值经调整后为1.40 (p < 0.0001)。在有1个、2个、3个或更多孩子的父亲中，无儿子的父亲罹患前列腺癌的相对风险值分别为1.25、1.41和1.60。没有女儿的父亲与儿女双全的父亲相比较，罹患前列腺癌的相对风险值并无统计学意义上的差异。
研究者阐述，“前列腺恶性上皮细胞中所被观测到的最频繁发生的细胞异常”就是Y 染色体的丢失，对前列腺肿瘤的组织研究是支持Y 染色体与前列腺癌有联系的他们还指出，Y 染色体丢失通常是与其他组织老化相伴随的，“在正常前列腺组织内一般不会发生这种变化，也许因为它的基因是前列腺得以正常工作的根本。”“对男性生殖的进一步的研究也许会给前列腺癌与其他男性特有恶性肿瘤方面的研究指明方向。”Harlap博士及其同僚这般总结道。
原文出处：
Y Chromosome May Have Role in Prostate Cancer
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 02 - The Y chromosome may be involved in prostate cancer, suggest findings of an Israeli study in which fathers with only daughters had a higher risk of prostate cancer than did fathers with at least one son.
"Overall, our findings are consistent with hypotheses that tie Y chromosome loci to prostate cancer, although other explanations cannot be excluded," write Dr. Susan Harlap of Columbia University, New York, and colleagues in the January 3rd issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Among 38,934 fathers in a family-based research cohort who were followed for up to 40 years after the birth of their children, 712 developed prostate cancer.
Compared with men who had at least one son, men with only daughters had an adjusted relative risk of prostate cancer of 1.40 (p < 0.0001).
In men with one, two, or three or more children, the relative risks associated with having no sons were 1.25, 1.41, and 1.60, respectively.
Men with no daughters showed no statistically significant increase or decrease in prostate cancer risk compared with men with both sons and daughters.
Support for the involvement of loci on the Y chromosome in prostate cancer comes from studies of prostate tumor tissue, according to the researchers, who note that loss of the Y chromosome is "the most frequently observed cytogenetic abnormality in malignant prostate epithelium."
And while the Y chromosome is often lost with aging in other tissues, they add, "it is generally preserved in normal prostate tissue, probably because some of its genes are essential for the prostate gland to function normally."
"Further investigation of the reproductive outcomes of men might throw light on prostate cancer and other male-specific malignancies," Dr. Harlap and colleagues conclude.
J Natl Cancer Inst 2007;99:77-81.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/550177
作者简介：
Susan Harlap, MB, BS (Distinguished Investigator 2004) of Columbia University, will utilize a unique data resource, the Jerusalem Perinatal Study, based on 92,408 individuals born in 1964-1976, their 43,899 mothers and 43,077 fathers, as well as through links with Israel抯 Psychiatric Registry, to make contacts with subjects, conduct interviews and administer tests of intermediate phenotypes for schizophrenia, sera and DNA. She will also build family sets, ascertain psychiatric disease in parents, separate sporadic cases of schizophrenia from familial cases and study how different subgroups of schizophrenia relate to co-morbidity in the family, through studies of cancer and causes of death. Her long-term goal is to develop the cohort for genetic studies and investigate gene-environment interactions. Prior literature reveals that some candidate genes for schizophrenia, as well as proteins thought to be dysregulated in schizophrenia, involve functional networks that are major players in cancer. Networks involving BRCA1 are especially intriguing. Due to the numerous overlaps within these networks between schizophrenia and oncology, Dr. Harlap will investigate cancer incidence in the families of schizophrenia patients. The occurrence of both diseases in one family, especially if also associated with a birth defect, might facilitate the search for genes. These cohort studies in Jerusalem (COSEM) have the potential to contribute to the discovery of genes for schizophrenia, through the quality and completeness of data through the relative certainty of paternities and through the strong inter-disciplinary team she will utilize.
Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia
