Why Is Cancer More Common in Men?
harvardmagazine.com
Why Is Cancer More Common in Men?
1–10 of 107 posts
Re: Why Is Cancer More Common in Men?
#2Although the title seems more appropriate for a ponderous meditation on a great mystery, the article is pretty concise and does cover the case for a specific mechanism. I think the HTML title ("A reason why cancer is less common in women") is better.
Re: Why Is Cancer More Common in Men?
#3Does anyone know how the X-inactivation thing works with the popular explanation for why women are less likely to be color-blind than men (ie: They have two copies of the gene for sensitivity to light of that wavelength, so both copies must be mutated in order to be insensitive)?
Re: Why Is Cancer More Common in Men?
#4Does anyone know how the X-inactivation thing works with the popular explanation for why women are less likely to be color-blind than men (ie: They have two copies of the gene for sensitivity to light of that wavelength, so both copies must be mutated in order to be insensitive)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_linkage
> X-linked recessive traits are expressed in all heterogametics, but are only expressed in those homogametics that are homozygous for the recessive allele. For example, an X-linked recessive allele in humans causes haemophilia, which is much more common in males than females because they are hemizygous (see zygosity) and therefore express the trait when they inherit one mutant allele. In contrast, a female must inherit two mutant alleles, a less frequent event since the mutant allele is rare in the population.
Re: Why Is Cancer More Common in Men?
#5Does anyone know how the X-inactivation thing works with the popular explanation for why women are less likely to be color-blind than men (ie: They have two copies of the gene for sensitivity to light of that wavelength, so both copies must be mutated in order to be insensitive)?
They have 2 kinds of affected light sensitive cells, one with activated normal gene and one with mutated.
Re: Why Is Cancer More Common in Men?
#6Although the title seems more appropriate for a ponderous meditation on a great mystery, the article is pretty concise and does cover the case for a specific mechanism. I think the HTML title ("A reason why cancer is less common in women") is better.
I agree, but only because questions so often go bad in titles that I now avoid them on principle. This is a rare situation where the question asked in the title is answered in a non-obvious way, so I can't actually point to anything wrong with titling this with a question.
Re: Why Is Cancer More Common in Men?
#7Does anyone know how the X-inactivation thing works with the popular explanation for why women are less likely to be color-blind than men (ie: They have two copies of the gene for sensitivity to light of that wavelength, so both copies must be mutated in order to be insensitive)?
They have 2 kinds of affected light sensitive cells, one with activated normal gene and one with mutated.
But the gene for the pigment is on the X-chromosome which is why women can have both variants and thus be tetrachormatic. But this would require both X's to be active unless this gene is also in the non-inactivated region.
Re: Why Is Cancer More Common in Men?
#8Does anyone know how the X-inactivation thing works with the popular explanation for why women are less likely to be color-blind than men (ie: They have two copies of the gene for sensitivity to light of that wavelength, so both copies must be mutated in order to be insensitive)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_linkage > X-linked recessive traits are expressed in all heterogametics, but are only expressed in those homogametics that are homozygous for the recessive allele. For example, an X-linked recessive allele in humans causes haemophilia, which is much more common in males than females because they are hemizygous (see zygosity) and therefore express the trait when they inherit one mutan…
You've just restated the popular explanation, right? You haven't addressed aetherson's question about how to square this explanation with X-inactivation in women.
Re: Why Is Cancer More Common in Men?
#9Because men receive worse medical treatment. Just compare how prostate and breast cancer are promoted. It also corresponds with other statistics like life expectancy, medical expenses, disposable income...
Re: Why Is Cancer More Common in Men?
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_linkage > X-linked recessive traits are expressed in all heterogametics, but are only expressed in those homogametics that are homozygous for the recessive allele. For example, an X-linked recessive allele in humans causes haemophilia, which is much more common in males than females because they are hemizygous (see zygosity) and therefore express the trait when they inherit one mutan…
You've just restated the popular explanation, right? You haven't addressed aetherson's question about how to square this explanation with X-inactivation in women.
Yes, I think I misunderstood the question.