Molecular Genetics of Human Familial Cancer
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
The first recognition of a heritable component in the etiology of human cancer came through the description of a familial aggregation of breast and liver tumors (Broca 1866). Subsequent analysis of cancer patients from families indicated that, although the extended families did not necessarily show an increased incidence of cancer, the immediate families frequently did (Warthin 1913). These small aggregations of tumors were termed “cancer fraternitie” and it was suggested that tumor causation might be due to the chance mating of two parents, each with a heterozygous susceptibility to cancer, yielding a cancerous child who represented the homozygous-susceptible phenotype. An analysis (Warthin 1913) of the pedigrees of all cancer patients admitted to the University of Michigan hospital for an 18-year period showed that 15% of 3600 patients had some familial history of cancer. Accurate multigenerational data from four of these families indicated that susceptibilities to specific cancer types were transmitted...
