Fed: Cancer inherited in more ways than one: Study

AAP General News (Australia)
02-15-2007
Fed: Cancer inherited in more ways than one: Study

Australian scientists are rewriting the rules of cancer inheritance .. after discovering
a new way the disease can be passed down through generations.

Researchers previously thought cancer could only spread through families when a parent's
gene mutation is passed on to their children.

But a landmark study by New South Wales researchers has revealed cancer can also be
inherited .. if it's caused by gene paralysis .. rather than a mutation.

University of NSW cancer specialist ROBYN WARD says their findings have major implications
for the many sufferers whose cancer can't be explained through current genetic tests.







The researchers made their discovery on a woman with bowel cancer caused not by a mutation
.. but through a process where a small but critical part of her DNA is wrapped in a coating
.. rendering it useless.

It was previously thought this kind of cancer-causing fault couldn't be inherited.

But the team's found one of the woman's three children has exactly the same coated
DNA .. putting him at extreme risk of developing bowel cancer too.

The discovery's been detailed in the latest New England Journal of Medicine.

It'll lead to new tests for people concerned about their familial history of cancer
.. who haven't been able to find a pure genetic link.

AAP RTV tam/tm/bart

KEYWORD: GENETIC (SYDNEY)

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