Y is there a risk to being male?
Being male or female can make a vital difference to many important biological functions and can lead to disparities in health. The Y chromosome carries the sex-determining sex reversal Y (SRY) gene and recent studies show that it might also harbor genes that have important biological functions other than sex determination. One such example is the emerging evidence from animal models and humans that supports the presence of cardiovascular genes on the Y chromosome. A significant amount of work remains to identify these genes; however, we report here observations linking the Y chromosome to hypertension, which could explain the higher incidence of cardiovascular disease in males compared with females.
Charchar
Fadi J
FJ
BHF Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre, Division of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G11 6NT, Scotland, UK.
Tomaszewski
Maciej
M
Strahorn
Pamela
P
Champagne
Benedicte
B
Dominiczak
Anna F
AF
D000818:Animals; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000235:genetics; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000235:genetics; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014998:Y Chromosome / Q000235:genetics*