Hereditary Familial Cancer

On a rare occasion a familial cancer is hereditary.

Families where this occurs are extremely rare.
When it happens, the increased susceptibility to develop the cancer comes from a hereditary mutation that is passed from parents to children.

This mutation:

• Can be transmitted by the mother or the father
  Because usually the mutation is not in a sexual chromosomes (chromosomes are DNA + proteins, sexual chromosomes are gender specific – men’s are XY and women’s are XX);
• Is different in different cancers
  For example in breast cancer, most cases result from a mutation in the BRCA genes;
• Has a 50% chance of transmission
  This means that a child of an affected parent has 50/50 chance of inheriting it.

To carry the mutation does not means that the person will definitely develop the disease, only that he/she has a higher risk of that happening.