My younger brother had cancer of the tonsils 3 years ago, he was 45 when diagnosed and on his road to recovery…. my older brother is 58 and has just been diagnosed as having Lung and Liver cancer…..what are the chances of this being hereditary or we carry the faulty gene that causes cancer?
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:54 am
There isn’t a faulty gene that causes cancer; there are some rare faulty genes that are known to be responsible for specific types of cancer, for example the two BRCA genes and breast cancer.
There is no general cancer gene.
Hereditary cancer is rare - fewer than 10% of all cancer cases are hereditary. And it’s always the same type of cancer; several family members having had different types of cancer is not hereditary.
And cancer diagnosed after the age of 50 is even less likely to be hereditary.
A sign that cancer MAY be hereditary within a family is when several members of the same side of that family have had the SAME type of cancer (eg all had breast cancer, or all had colon cancer), especially if some developed it at a younger than usual age.
So, based on the information you’ve given here, you’re not at any increased risk of cancer.
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
“The faulty gene”?
There are dozens of genes implicated in various types of cancer. There are some common genes and some that are completely unique to a given type of cancer.
Your odds may be higher than the average Jane, but these are very different types of cancer, and your brothers’ cancers could be more related to smoking than genetic issues.
In America, you have a 1/3 chance of getting cancer in your lifetime if you are a female. 1 in 2 if you are a male.
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Based on the information you have given you have a 1 in 3 risk of cancer, same as any other woman.
The only relationship between lung and tonsil cancer is that they are normally both caused by smoking.
If you are a smoker as well as your brothers, I would be giving it up soon.