What does it mean to be a cancer gene carrier? Problems in establishing causality from the molecular genetics of cancer.

Abstract excerpt

This article addresses the following question: What does it mean to be a cancer gene carrier? The existence of families prone to cancer has prompted an intense search for predisposing heritable gene mutations. Genes that impart susceptibility to colorectal, breast, and ovarian cancers have been recently identified. It is doubtful, however, that the action of a single mutant gene totally accounts for the...

Topics

• Environmental Exposure
• Heterozygote
• Humans
• Mutation
• Neoplasms
• Risk