Y chromosome loss linked to gene activity changes in immune cells
A computational analysis of blood cells from 416 men linked Y chromosome loss to cell-specific gene activity changes and unusual features of X chromosome silencing.
Cross-sectional study
Limit: Chromosome loss was inferred from missing Y chromosome RNA signals, not direct chromosome counts
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Researchers analyzed gene activity in individual blood immune cells from 416 men aged 19 to 93, with a median age of 68, in a computational observational study. They classified 45,304 of 517,412 cells (8.76%) as having lost the Y chromosome.
The links differed by immune cell type and position along computationally inferred paths of cell development. Monocytes, a type of immune cell, had the highest frequencies of chromosome loss. In classical monocytes, the loss was associated with a gene activity pattern linked to scar-tissue formation. Cells classified as lacking the Y chromosome also had higher levels of XIST, an RNA molecule needed to silence an X chromosome. Some genes known to escape that silencing also had higher activity.
Why it matters
Y chromosome loss in older men has been linked to deaths from cardiovascular disease and cancer. Studying its links to immune cell behavior may help researchers investigate those associations.
Caveats
This observational analysis inferred cell-development paths rather than following cells over time, so it cannot show that chromosome loss caused the differences. Cell-level chromosome loss was inferred from missing Y chromosome RNA signals rather than direct chromosome counts.
