Why liver cancer occurs more in males

SAN DIEGO, July 9 (UPI) -- Production of a protein that promotes inflammation appears to be linked to the higher incidence of liver cancer in men, found a U.S. study.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have determined that female mice produce far less of the protein interleukin-6 in response to liver injury than males do. Knowing that production of this protein is suppressed by estrogen may point the way to therapies to reduce the incidence of liver cancer in males.

Interleukin-6 contributes to the chronic liver inflammation that leads to cancer, according to study leader Michael Karin.

Males show a higher rate of inflammation than females in the same diseases, including cancer, according to the researchers.

Experiments on specialized cells in the liver that produce interleukin-6 in mice showed that estrogen acts on these cells to suppress interleukin-6 production, according to the study published in the journal Science.

A similar mechanism may account for the gender bias in liver cancer in humans, according to the researchers.