Is Leukemia genetic? Please read details....?
both of my grandfathers have been killed by this disease. Am I or my parents at risk? Symptoms didn't present until 80 and 75 years old.
- well wisher
Cancer is generally not inherited. There has been no evidence of cancer being inherited till date. However, there are cases of many cancer patients within a family or over generations. Since cancer is a disease related to genetics, certain genetic predisposition can be carried forward from generation to generation in the family, if there is a history of cancer in a family, prudence demands that the family should get themselves checked and exercise all necessary restraints.
It is now known that all cancers, including leukemia, begin as a mutation in the genetic material—the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)—within certain cells. The external or internal causes of such change probably add up over a lifetime. Leukemia begins when one or more white blood cells experience DNA loss or damage. Those errors are copied and passed on to subsequent generations of cells.
- tiredmt
Usually not. There are several types of leukemia. Your grandfathers may have had the same or a different type. Leukemia is a fairly common cancer.
Most cancers are sporadic (occurring in a family at the same rate as in the general population).
Some are familial (occurring at a higher rate in a family than in the general population).
A small number are genetic (an inherited predisposition to cancer caused by a particular abnormality in a gene that can be inherited).
HealthCommunities says this about leukemia:
Genetics–Leukemia risk is increased 15-fold among children with Down's syndrome, which is a genetically linked chromosomal abnormality (usually an extra copy of chromosome 21). Three rare inherited disorders—Fanconi's anemia, Bloom's syndrome, and ataxia telangiectasia—also have an increased risk for leukemia. In addition, leukemia varies among racial and ethnic groups with different genetic make-ups. For example, rates of lymphoma and leukemia (e.g., chronic lymphocytic leukemia, CLL) are especially high in some Jewish populations, whereas Asian populations rarely develop CLL. First-degree relatives (e.g., parents, children, siblings) of CLL patients have a 2- to 4-fold increased risk for this cancer. Recent studies have shown that, in some types of leukemia (e.g., AML), genetics also may play a role in the risk for recurrence of the disease.
Leukemia — Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes, risk factors, treatment of this blood-related cancer.
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