No Gender Equity in Liver Cancer Risk Dr. David J. Demko, gerontologist and editor AgeVenture News Service 02-06-08 Life can be so unfair. Take, for example, the fact that the so-called "weaker sex" (women) outlive men by an average of seven years. Not much you can do about. It's genetic. Okay, so this example of gender inequity sounds like bad news. But wait. Here's some ... worse news. MIT researchers have discovered that men are more likely to suffer from chronic liver disease ... ouch ! Okay, time to re-cork that prize bottle of single-malt scotch you use to celebrate the arrival of good news. And, rightly so, because this new medical development is anything but "good news." A fundamental difference in the way men and women respond to chronic liver disease at the genetic level helps explain why men are more prone to liver cancer, says MIT pathologist, Arlin Rogers. Dr. Rogers led an MIT research team investigating the gender differences in risk to liver cancer. Men develop liver cancer at twice the rate of women in the United States. In other countries, especially in Asia, the rate for men can be eight or 10 times that for women. Male and female livers are inherently different, with most of the differences arising during puberty when male livers are exposed to periodic bursts of growth hormone. This prompts male livers to express different genes than female livers, which explains why men and women can have different reactions to certain antibiotics and other medications. Healthy males and females both can respond to acute toxins and other stresses. But the male liver is less well equipped to cope with the chronic inflammation induced by certain infectious agents. When the male mice, used in the MIT research, developed chronic hepatitis, some masculine liver genes were unregulated and others turned off. At the same time, some feminine genes were reactivated. This resulted in an unpredictable gene profile termed "liver-gender disruption." "There's no rhyme or reason to it. There's just a complete scrambling of masculine and feminine genes," said Rogers. Okay, class. What have we learned here. Well, male adults are cautioned about stressing their liver. go lite on alcoholic beverages, especially liquor; instead, substitute wine or beer. avoid additives in your food and beverages (preservatives, colorings, sugar substitutes). monitor your use of both prescription and non-prescription medications. avoid illegal drug use of any kind due to the well-documented health-hazards. All the above items can tax your liver's ability to function. So, review these suggestions with your health care provider, and get annual health checkups because many diseases in adulthood often occur without symptoms, until it's too late. The MIT study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Image credit: National Cancer Institute, Washington, DC. AgeVenture News Service, 19432 Preserve Drive, Boca Raton, FL 33498 USA