The loss of the Y chromosome in blood cells may be linked to a shorter life span and higher cancer risk in men, according to a recent study.

Men tend to have a shorter average life span than women and both the incidence and mortality in cancer is higher in men than in women. 

An international team of researchers explored the mechanisms and possible risk factors behind this sex disparity. They found that the most common genetic alteration was a loss of the Y chromosome in a proportion of the white blood cells.

"You have probably heard before that the Y chromosome is small, insignificant and contains very little genetic information. This is not true," researcher Jan Dumanski said in a statement.

For the study, researchers analyzed the DNA in blood samples from a group of more than 1,600 elderly men. The study participants were studied for many years and the researchers could detect a correlation between the loss of the Y chromosome and shorter survival.

"Men who had lost the Y chromosome in a large proportion of their blood cells had a lower survival, irrespective of cause of death. We could also detect a correlation between loss of the Y chromosome and risk of cancer mortality," Lars Forsberg, leader of the study and researcher at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology at Uppsala University, said in a statement.

The Y chromosome is only present in men and the genes contained on the Y chromosome have so far mostly been associated with sex determination and sperm production.

Dumanski said the results indicate that the Y chromosome has a role in tumor suppression and they might explain why men get cancer more often than women.

"We believe that analyses of the Y chromosome could in the future become a useful general marker to predict the risk for men to develop cancer," She said.

The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Genetics.