BOTH THESE CANCERS MAY BE HEREDITARY

Both of those cancer may be hereditary

In most cases, colon or ovarian cancers happen by chance; however, in some cases they are hereditary. It means that they are caused by genetic mutations (changes) passed down in families.

If you have direct family members who have had colon or ovarian cancer, you may be more likely to get it yourself. For ovarian cancer, you should consider also any women in your direct family who had breast cancer: the genetic mutations responsible for breast cancer can indeed cause ovarian cancer as well.

If there are cases of colon or ovarian (or breast) cancer in your family, discuss it with your doctor. He/she will be able to advise about your own risk of cancer. In some cases, your doctor may refer you to a genetic counselor: this is a specialist who can identify if you need to do genetic testing, to determine your risk of developing these cancers.

Genetic testing

For ovarian cancer, your genetic counselor may ask you to do a BRCA1 or BRCA2 testing. BRCA1 and BRCA2 testing are used to detect the genes known to increase the risk of ovarian cancer. You may also be asked to do another testing to detect if you have inherited the Lynch syndrome, which raises ovarian cancer risk.

Genetic testing for Lynch syndrome is also done for colon cancer if you have several direct family members who had cancers related to the Lynch syndrome, or if you have one family member with Lynch syndrome.

Interesting fact

The BRCA1 gene and its link to many breast and ovarian cancers was discovered by geneticist Mary-Claire King in the early 90s, following a research started in the 70s.

At the time, cancer was believed to be viral and most scientists attacked King’s idea that cancer could be determined by genetic patterns. With her research on family linkage, King was able to demonstrate that a gene on Chromosome 17 is responsible for some types of hereditary ovarian and breast cancer.

Mary-Claire King is also known for two other major accomplishments: for demonstrating that humans and chimpanzees are 99% identical from a genetic perspective, and for working on the genomic sequencing of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, to identify children who had been stolen from their families during the Dirty War.

Did you know…?

Lynch syndrome is a genetic condition and the most common cause of hereditary colon cancer. It is also responsible for other types of cancer, including ovarian, stomach, liver, kidney, brain and skin cancer.