What is Genetics Cancer?

If your parents had cancer than your chances of getting it becomes quite higher, as it’s a genetic disease. To avoid risks, necessary checkups should be done before time. Some people are born with a gene mutation; this damaged gene puts them at higher risk for cancer than other people. It is also known as “hereditary cancer” when cancer occurs because of the inherited gene mutation. 5 to 10 percent of all cancer inherited are from genetic mutations. Most gene changes can impact cell to evade normal growth controls and thus, become cancer. For ex: Many cancer generating gene changes increase production of a protein that makes cells grow others result in the production of a misshapen, and therefore nonfunctional, a form of a protein that normally repairs cellular damage.

It is caused by certain changes to genes that control the way our cells function, especially how they grow and divide. This starts affecting the cells and slowly growing and spreading in the whole organ or body. For a normal cell to transform into a cancer cell the genes that regulate cell growth and differentiation must be changed and the affected genes are divided into two categories. Oncogenes which are genes that promote cell growth and reproduction and Tumor suppressor genes which inhibit cell division and survival.

The harmful change of your cells can happen due to the formation of novel oncogenes, due to inappropriate over-expression of normal oncogenes, or by the under-expression or disabling of tumor suppressor genes.

• The most commonly mutated gene in all cancers is TP53, which makes protein that abolishes the growth of tumors.
• Inherited mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that are associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome, which is a disorder marked by an increased lifetime risk of breast and ovarian cancers in women.
• Another gene that produces a tumor suppressor protein is PTEN.

Genetic tests are basically requested by a person’s doctor or other healthcare providers. The final results of the tests could be positive, negative or even uncertain. A genetic doctor or another healthcare provider who is trained in genetics can help a person or his family to understand their test results. Medical test results usually included a person’s medical records or particularly if a doctor or other health care provider referred the test. Most genetic testing for cancer mainly focused on testing for individual inherited mutations. Genetic cancer is usually not in a person’s will yet with regular checkups it can be detected at the earliest.