Lynch Syndrome - Inherited Predisposition to Cancer

[Neferti]

Lynch syndrome carrier speaks out as Australians are urged to become aware of family cancer history

Sharron O'Neill always knew there was a high rate of cancer in her family.

It could be traced across six generations.

Her grandmother's generation watched bowel and uterine cancers take their aunt, their mother and their grandmother.

Ms O'Neill developed colon cancer at the age of 19, the same year her grandmother passed of pancreatic cancer and her mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer at the age of 39.

Ms O'Neill has Lynch syndrome - an inherited predisposition to a vast array of cancers including bowel cancer, endometrial and ovarian cancer for women and cancers in the pancreas, stomach, and ureter, among many others.

Carriers of these mutations have up to an 80 per cent risk of developing these cancers.

Eve Raets from Lynch Syndrome Australia said it was estimated up to 20,000 people living in Australia have this genetic mutation, but only 5 per cent of them know it.

"It is so important that we ensure the other 95 per cent are made aware of the importance of knowing their family's history of cancer, so they can have the best chance at life," Ms Raets said.

March 22 is Lynch Syndrome International Awareness Day and Australians are being urged to become aware of their family's cancer history.

The genetic mutations associated with Lynch syndrome are familial, which means they are inherited and cancers tend to occur at a much younger age.

"And they are done so in a dominant manner, meaning that only one parent needs to pass the gene on to the offspring for the offspring to be affected and be predisposed to cancer," Ms Raets said.

"Given the genetic nature of the predisposition, families will often bear the heart-breaking experience of watching multiple members battle cancer."

More at the link below.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-21/c ... me/6327544