Genetic predispositions and childhood cancer.
This article provides an overview of the problem of genetic susceptibility to childhood cancer with a particular emphasis on problems with ascertaining inherited cancer risk and the role of tumor-suppressor gene mutations in cancer predispositions. The association between neurofibromatosis type 1 and childhood leukemia is used to illustrate some of the issues faced by molecular biologists and genetic epidemiologists in identifying and analyzing at-risk individuals. The problem of incomplete penetrance in cancer susceptibility is presented and potential models are discussed. The article concludes with a number of tentative conclusions from existing data and speculations for future studies.
Shannon
K
K
Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco 94143, USA. kevins@itsa.ucsf.edu
D002648:Child; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor / Q000235:genetics*; D018095:Germ-Line Mutation; D006801:Humans; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000235:genetics; D008957:Models, Genetic; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology / Q000379:methods; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D009456:Neurofibromatosis 1 / Q000235:genetics; D019683:Penetrance