Deadly Heredity Cancers

Salaam everybody.

When we talked about heredity diseases, more over cancers, ermmmm. Do we really care? The response definitely YES. BUT.... do we really really care about ourselves? For example, if we know that diabetes runs in the family, but we still take high intake of sugars in our daily life. Hehe... normal kan tu. Anyway, here I would love to share an excerpt from the New Sunday times (about 75% from the article). Who knows it can educate us (it does actually). J

All cancers are genetic in origin. When genes are working properly, cell growth is tightly regulated, as if a stoplight told cells to divide only so many times and no more. A cancer occurs when something causes a mutation in the genes that limit cell growth or that repair DNA damage.

An estimated five to 10 per cent of cancers are strongly hereditary, and 20 to 30 per cent are more weakly hereditary.

GENETIC CHANCES

In hereditary cancer, the mutated gene can be transmitted through the egg or sperm to children, with each child facing a 50 per cent chance of inheriting the defective gene if one parent carries it and a 75 per cent chance if both parents carry the same defect.

A woman with a BRCA mutation faces a 56 to 87 percent chance of contracting breast cancer and a 10 to 40 percent chance of ovarian cancer.

For some hereditary cancer genes, the risks are even greater. A child who inherits a so-called RET mutation faces a 100 percent chance of developing an especially lethal form of thyroid cancer. There were red flags that suggest as cancer might be hereditary:

• Diagnosis of cancer at a significantly younger age than it ordinarily occurs.
  
• Occurrence of the same cancer in more than one generation of a family.
  
• Occurrence of two or more cancers in the same patient or blood relatives.
  

For example, a woman with a BRCA mutation is at high risk for both breast and ovarian cancer. A mismatch repair mutation, known as MMR, significantly raises the risk for colon cancer and somewhat for uterine and ovarian cancer. Thus, the occurrence of colon, uterine and ovarian cancers among blood relatives suggests that the family may carry the MMR mutation.

PREVENTIVE ACTIONS

Knowing that you have a high-risk cancer gene mutation offers the chance to take preventive action like scheduling frequent screenings starting at a young age or removing the organ at risk.

• While surgery was clearly a drastic form of cancer prevention, in the future drugs might be to thwart cancers in people at high risk.
  
• A third possibility, when a cancer gene runs in a family, is in vitro fertilisation and genetic analysis to identify affected embryos and implant those lacking the defective gene.
  
• It was suggested that a woman with a BCRA mutation should start at an early age to conduct monthly breast self-exams and have a doctor examine the breast two to four times a year. It was also advised alternating mammograms and breast MRI's every six to 12 months, starting at age 25.
  

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Before choosing surgery to reduce risk in an otherwise healthy person, these factors should be carefully considered:

• Possible nonsurgical alternatives,
  
• Actual cancer risk from the inherited gene and how much surgery can reduce it.
  
• Timing of any operation
  
• Effects on quality life.
  

You can read more here.

On the holiday front, this time is a bit poles apart. Hehehe.... kiter orang jadi baby sitter lah. An enjoyable experience (sometimes) & nerve-racking (often)à not really lah hee. Just that, lil Widad demands a lot. Anak manja lah kan.... Anyway, I can feel that KL (or Spore) is calling me on Thursday. J