Can a mother get gastric cancer and pass it on to her son? What are the chances?

Whether cancer is related to family inheritance is a common concern.

At present, it is considered that cancer is not a direct hereditary disease, but a few cancers do have a tendency of family aggregation. Someone in the family has cancer, and the chances of children getting cancer are several times that of the average person. These cancers are called hereditary familial cancers. Include esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, gastric cancer, endometrial cancer, etc. The influence of this genetic factor is called genetic susceptibility in medicine.

Through observation, people gradually realize that lifestyle and exposure to certain carcinogens in the environment will increase human susceptibility to cancer. It is also found that some patients with congenital immunodeficiency have a much higher risk of cancer than normal people. Hereditary familial cancer. People who often have defective genes are more likely to get cancer. The most prominent genetic manifestation is retinoblastoma, but the incidence rate is extremely low. A large number of clinical data confirm that there are cancer patients in the family, and the offspring may not necessarily suffer from cancer.

In addition, there are few cancer families in the world. About one-third of such family members have cancer successively, with the same incidence rate for men and women and the same cancer. Such a cancer family must be related to heredity, but in fact there are not many such families.

Some diseases do not belong to cancer, but they can become cancerous and are hereditary. It is clinically called hereditary tumor syndrome. For example, familial polyposis coli, polyps can be malignant to colon cancer, such patients must be vigilant and closely observed.

The genetic problem of cancer is very complicated. The occurrence of cancer is a mystery that has not been completely solved at present. Therefore, when someone in the family suffers from cancer, don't think about it, keep a happy mood, improve your immunity, learn and understand the knowledge of cancer, and help your family build confidence in overcoming cancer.

Napoleon is one of the most legendary figures among French emperors. He has made great contributions to the prosperity of France, and his life, including the cause of his death, has attracted much attention. According to historical records, most of Napoleon's three generations died of stomach cancer: his grandfather died of stomach cancer; Father died of stomach cancer; The three sisters also suffer from gastric cancer; He himself died of gastric cancer in 182 1 year. Why did Napoleon's three generations all get cancer and suffer from the same kind of cancer-gastric cancer? This has to start with the inheritance of cancer.

The heritability of cancer was first discovered from the phenomenon of cancer family aggregation, such as Napoleon's gastric cancer family mentioned above, but the most typical example is G family. G family is the first cancer family to be investigated by geneticists on a large scale. It was investigated by the scholar Worthing from 1895 to 1976, seven generations before and after. Of the 842 offspring of lO branch of this family, 95 have cancer, of which 72 (76%) have one parent with cancer. From 65438 to 0974, 452 cases of liver cancer were investigated in a county in southern China, among which 1 16 patients had a family history of cancer. There is a family with a high incidence of liver cancer. Eight of the three generations of 2 1 people died of liver cancer. The author also learned that a family of five brothers and sisters were born in the same place and lived in different areas as adults, some in mountainous areas and some in coastal areas, but all died of liver cancer within two years respectively. Recently, it was reported that a typical neurofibroma family was found in Taichung City, Taiwan Province Province. 6 1 year-old Shi began to grow neurofibroma when he got married at the age of 25. With the increase of age, the tumor gradually increases and increases. Now it's all over. Her four children, as well as her eldest daughter's three daughters, are all covered with tumors as big as eggs and as small as grapes. ...

The inheritance of cancer is not only reflected in the phenomenon of family aggregation of cancer, but also in the racial difference of cancer incidence. As we know, the incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in China is the highest in the world, and even immigrants from China are much higher than locals, such as China, Malays and Indians living in Singapore. The incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma was13.3: 3: 0.4; The incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma among Chinese immigrants in the United States is 34 times higher than that of white Americans. In addition, Japanese people are prone to pineoma, whites are prone to breast cancer and skin cancer, and the incidence of multiple myeloma in blacks is much higher than that in other races, which shows that the occurrence of diseases is closely related to ethnic differences, which are determined by genetic factors, so cancer is closely related to heredity.

In addition, in the study of twins suffering from a certain cancer, it is also found that the consistent incidence rate of identical twins is significantly higher than that of fraternal twins, even higher than the group incidence rate. For example, in the investigation of 77 pairs of twins with leukemia, the coincidence rate of identical twins is as high as 80%; In another survey, it was found that 100% of 20 pairs of identical twins had the same tumor. The study of twin cancer is undoubtedly of great help to the early prevention and treatment of cancer. When one identical twin has cancer, the pre-existing precancerous features can be known by carefully observing the other twin, thus laying a foundation for early diagnosis and prevention. The above examples fully illustrate the relationship between cancer and heredity.

Because cancer can be inherited, many scholars even advocate that cancer should be listed as a genetic disease. It has been made clear that cancer is an extremely complicated process of cell malignant transformation, which can be caused by both endogenous factors and exogenous carcinogenic factors, but it is more the result of the comprehensive action of these two factors. At present, there are many data showing that there will be many gene changes in the occurrence of a cancer, and the change of the same gene will play a role in the occurrence of many cancers. Most cancers are closely related to the activation of oncogenes or the inactivation of anticancer genes. According to research, everyone's somatic cells contain a variety of proto-oncogenes. When these cells are affected by carcinogens such as physical factors (such as ultraviolet rays, ionizing radiation, etc.). ), chemical factors (such as benzidine, aflatoxin, etc. ) and biological factors (such as DNA, RNA oncogenic virus), they will gradually change from normal cells to cancer cells through precancerous cells, and eventually develop into daunting malignant tumors. In the whole process of cell carcinogenesis, it involves the change of genetic material DNA, chromosome breakage, translocation and loss; It involves the activation of oncogenes and the inactivation of anticancer genes; It also involves the structural and functional changes of tumor metastasis genes and metastasis suppressor genes, which is currently recognized as the genetic mechanism of cancer occurrence and development.

Then, since the occurrence and development of cancer are closely related to heredity, are the cancer patients in the family helpless and helpless? The answer is obviously no, although cancer is terrible (in people's impression, cancer, especially advanced cancer, is equivalent to being sentenced to death), it is not impossible to prevent, let alone incurable. The prevention and treatment of cancer is the word "early". As long as it is found and diagnosed early, it can effectively prevent the occurrence of cancer, and even if it happens, it can be effectively treated. According to research, if cancer can be diagnosed and treated early, the cure rate can reach 80% or even higher. Moreover, there are many new technologies and methods to conquer cancer, such as X-ray diagnosis, endoscopic diagnosis, ultrasonic diagnosis, cytological diagnosis, blood biochemical examination diagnosis, computer-aided diagnosis and so on. In addition, in recent years, scientists have been studying and applying the high technology of bioengineering to eliminate cancer. Therefore, when there is a genetic phenomenon of cancer in the family or various internal and external factors lead to cancer, don't be careless or take a chance, but try to be "three early" and eliminate cancer in the bud. In this way, the good wish to conquer and cure cancer is no longer a dream.

Can cancer be inherited? 2001April1June 10:3 1 Sina Life

Q: My father died of liver cancer. It is understood that tumors can be inherited. Is there a cancer patient at home, and other relatives may get cancer?

Dr. Li replied: According to the results of current etiological research, some cancers may be caused by certain genetic characteristics and external carcinogens. Therefore, from the perspective of prevention, early detection of these susceptible patients with genetic factors and timely preventive measures will certainly help to reduce the incidence of cancer.

The investigation of twins is very important for judging heredity and tumorigenesis. Someone investigated 185 pairs of twins in Denmark. Seven of 52 pairs of identical twins have cancer, and seven of 133 pairs of fraternal twins have cancer. This 14 pair of cancer twins are sick at the same time, indicating that there is a clear relationship between tumor occurrence and heredity. Someone further investigated the cancer differences between identical twins and fraternal twins. Of the 23 pairs of identical twins, 22 pairs were found to have cancer in the same place. Of the thirteen pairs of fraternal twins, six have cancer in the same place, and identical twins have more cancers of the same type in the same organ. When a doctor investigated the family history of prostate cancer, he found that a pair of identical twins had prostate cancer. These facts provide important genetic evidence.

Some benign tumors are hereditary. Familial multiple endocrine adenoma is one of them, which is often a simultaneous tumor of thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, adrenal gland, pituitary gland and pancreas. Most of these patients will become cancerous. There are also some hereditary diseases that are easy to turn into cancer, such as familial polyposis coli and xeroderma pigmentosum. Therefore, patients with malignant tumors among relatives must pay attention to regular examination and find abnormalities as soon as possible.