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Does Cancer Run In Your Family
Family cancer syndromes – when should I worry?
When many cases of cancer occur in a family, it is most often due to chance or because family members have been exposed to a common toxin, such as cigarette smoking. Less often, these cancers may be caused by an inherited gene mutation causing a family cancer syndrome. Certain things make it more likely cancers in a family are caused by a family cancer syndrome, such as
- Many cases of an uncommon or rare type of cancer (like kidney cancer).
- Cancers occurring at younger ages than usual (like colon cancer in a 20 year old)
- More than one type of cancer in a single person (like a woman with both breast and ovarian cancer)
- Cancers occurring in both of a pair of organs (both eyes, both kidneys, both breasts)
- More than one childhood cancer in a set of siblings (like sarcoma in both a brother and a sister)
- Cancer occurring in the sex not usually affected (like breast cancer in a man)
Before you decide that cancer runs in your family, first gather some information. For each case of cancer, look at:
- Who is affected? How are we related?
- What type of cancer is it? Is it rare?
- How old was this relative when they were diagnosed?
- Did this person get more than one type of cancer?
- Did they smoke or have other known risk factors?
Cancer in a close relative, like a parent or sibling (brother or sister), is more cause for concern than cancer in a more distant relative. Even if the cancer was from a gene mutation, the chance of it passing on to you gets lower with more distant relatives.
It is also important to look at each side of the family separately. Having 2 relatives with cancer is more concerning if the people are related to each other (meaning that they are both on the same side of the family). For example, if both relatives are your mother’s brothers it means more than if one was your father’s brother and the other was your mother’s brother.
The type of cancer matters, too. More than one case of the same rare cancer is more worrisome than cases of a more common cancer. For some very rare cancers, like cancer of the adrenal cortex, the risk of a certain family cancer syndrome is relatively high with even one case.
Having the same type of cancer in many relatives is more concerning than if it is several different kinds of cancer. Still, in some family cancer syndromes, a few types of cancer seem to go together. For example, breast cancer and ovarian cancer run together in families with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome (HBOC). Colon andendometrial cancers tend to go together in a syndrome called hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), also known as Lynch syndrome.
The age of the person when the cancer was diagnosed is also important. For example, colon cancer is rare in people under 30. Having 2 or more cases in close relatives under 30 could be a sign of an inherited cancer syndrome. On the other hand, prostate cancer is very common in elderly men, so if both your father and his brother were found to have prostate cancer when they were in their 80s, it is less likely to be due to an inherited gene change.
Certain kinds of benign (not cancer) tumors and medical conditions are sometimes also part of a family cancer syndrome. For example, people with the multiple endocrine neoplasia, type II syndrome (MEN II), have a high risk of a certain kind of thyroid cancer. They also often have hyperparathyroidism (overactive parathyroid glands) and may develop adenomas (benign tumors) of the parathyroid glands and can also can get tumors in the adrenal glands called pheochromocytomas, which are usually benign.
When many relatives have the same type of cancer it is important to notice if the cancer could be related to smoking. For example, lung cancer is commonly caused by smoking, so many cases of lung cancer in a family of heavy smokers is more likely to be due to smoking than to an inherited gene change.
Examples of family cancer syndromes
There are many family cancer syndromes, some of these are discussed briefly here as examples. For more information about a particular type of cancer and its genetic components, diagnosis, and treatment, please our document about that specific cancer site.
Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer syndrome
For many years, doctors noticed that in some families, many of the women developed breast and or ovarian cancer. Often the cancers were found at younger than usual ages, and some of the women had more than one cancer. Some had breast cancer in both breasts, and some got both breast and ovarian cancer. Doctors studying these families coined the term Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome (HBOC).
Scientists studied the genes of these families, and discovered the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. Because some women (and families) have HBOC based on cancer history, but don’t have mutations in these genes, scientists believe that there is at least one more gene that can cause HBOC, which they have called BRCA3. The BRCA3 gene has not yet been identified.
Mutations in either BRCA1 or BRCA2 can lead to HBOC. The risk of breast and ovarian cancer is very high with mutations in either gene, but tends to be higher with BRCA1 mutations. Along with breast and ovarian cancer, this syndrome can also lead to fallopian tube cancer, primary peritoneal cancer, male breast cancer, pancreatic cancer,prostate cancer, as well as some others. Male breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer can be seen with mutations in either gene, but are more common in people with BRCA2 mutations. In the US, mutations in theBRCA genes are more common in people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent than it is in the general population.
Women with a strong family history of breast cancer and/or ovarian cancer may choose to undergo genetic counseling to estimate their risk for having a mutation in one of the BRCA genes. The genetics professional estimates the risk based on the patient’s history of cancer and the history of cancer in their family. If they have a high risk, they then can choose to be tested (more information about genetic testing can be found in our documentGenetic Testing: What You Need to Know). If a mutation is present, the woman has a high risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer. She can then consider steps to find cancer early and even lower her risk of getting cancer. (These are discussed in detail in our documents Breast Cancer and Ovarian Cancer.)
Because breast cancer is rare in men, men with this cancer are often offered genetic counseling and testing forBRCA mutations. Although having a mutation doesn’t affect a man’s future health care like it does a woman’s, it can be helpful for his relatives to know that he has a mutation and so they are at risk.
If someone in a family is found to have a BRCA mutation, it means that their close relatives (parents, siblings, and children) have a 50% chance of having a mutation, too. They may wish to be tested, or even without testing may wish to start screening for certain cancers early or take other precautions to lower their risk of cancer.
HBOC is not the only family cancer syndrome that can cause breast or ovarian cancer. For information about other genes and syndromes that raise the risk of these cancers, see our documents Breast Cancer and Ovarian Cancer.
Hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer
The most common inherited syndrome that increases a person’s risk for colon cancer is called hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), or Lynch syndrome. People with this syndrome have a high risk of colorectal cancer. Most of these cancers occur before age 50. Although the name says “non-polyposis,” people with HNPCC can get polyps, but they only have a few, not the hundreds that are seen in another syndrome that causes colon cancer called familial adenomatous polyposis.
HNPCC also leads to a high risk of endometrial cancer (cancer in the lining of the uterus) in women. Other cancers linked with HNPCC include cancer of the ovary, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, kidney, brain, ureters (tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder), and bile duct.
HNPCC can be caused a mutation in one of several genes, including MLH1, MSH2, MLH3, MSH6, PMS1, PMS, andTGFBR2. Most of these genes are involved in DNA repair.
Mutations in the genes that cause HNPCC can be found through genetic testing. Doctors and genetics professionals can look to see if HNPCC is likely based on your personal and family history using certain criteria. These, known as the Amsterdam criteria and the revised Bethesda guidelines, are discussed in detail in our Colorectal Cancerdocument.
Another option for people with colorectal or endometrial cancer is to have the tumor tissue tested for changes that can be caused when one of these genes is faulty. These changes are known as microsatellite instability (or MSI). Having normal findings (no MSI) implies that HNPCC is not present and that the genes that cause it are normal. If MSI is present, they may have HNPCC, and so are referred for genetic counseling and possible testing. For more information about genetic testing, see our document Genetic Testing: What You Need to Know).
Someone who is known to carry an HNPCC gene mutation may start screening for colorectal cancer at an early age (such as during their early 20s), or take other steps to try to prevent cancer from starting (these are discussed in more detail in our document Colorectal Cancer). Women with HNPCC may start screening for endometrial cancer or take other steps to try to prevent the cancer. These are discussed in more detail in our document Endometrial Cancer.
If someone in a family is found to have HNPCC, it means that their close relatives (parents, siblings, and children) have a 50% chance of having a mutation, too. They may wish to be tested, or even without testing may wish to start screening for certain cancers early or take other precautions to lower their risk of cancer.
However, Help Is Here… Not Only Can Your Cancer Be Cured, But We Also Have Preventive Cancer Packages. Common Sense Technologies also known as Frequency Doctors say they have developed a method to calculate the exact frequency that it would take to shake a virus to death.
Their researchers have discovered that when viruses are bombarded with the correct frequency pulses, they shake apart. This arises from an inherent characteristic of all objects called a “resonant frequency,” which is the frequency at which an object naturally vibrates.
Resonant frequencies are the key to stringed instruments, in which a string of a certain material, thickness and length has a resonant frequency that produces a specific musical note. But resonant frequencies can also cause objects to shake so uncontrollably that their stability is undermined, as when a wind shook the Tacoma Narrows Bridge at its resonant frequency in 1940, causing it to collapse.
Because the shell of a single virus can contain millions of atoms, it is difficult to calculate a given virus’ resonant frequency except by trial and error. But in the current study, researchers successfully calculated the resonant frequency of or several viruses, Illnesses, diseases and conditions.
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