Beyond sex determination: the Y chromosome in male cancers
Y chromosome loss in cancer blood samples emerges as a new biomarker to predict who might respond to immunotherapy or develop blood cancers.
This Nature Reviews Cancer paper establishes loss of the Y chromosome (LOY) as a clinically relevant somatic alteration in male cancers, demonstrating associations with hematologic malignancy susceptibility, impaired immune surveillance, and variable prognosis in solid tumors. New liquid biopsy and single-cell sequencing tools now enable precise LOY quantification, positioning it as a potential blood biomarker for cancer risk stratification and immunotherapy response prediction.
What the study was
- Study design
- Comprehensive narrative review
- Population
- Male cancer patients
- Category
- Genomics/Precision Medicine
- Maturity
- Exploratory
- Journal
- Nat Rev Cancer
Why it surfaced
Nat Rev Cancer review on LOY; first comprehensive biomarker framing of Y chromosome in cancer; implications for hematologic malignancy risk and immunotherapy.
A plain-language summary of published research — not medical advice. Talk to a clinician about your own care.