DNA as a predictor of above average susceptibility to CRC

0lddog

Mods, If this post is in the wrong forum / unacceptable then please move / delete as appropriate.

From what I read, a considerable amount of (productive) effort has been put into studying the above but prime time for it is still some time off.

Its a topic of considerable interest to me as there is strong circumstantial evidence that a great gradfather was the souce of above average susceptibility to CRC in his offspring. In normal circumstances I would be inclined to say 'so what'. However, in this case, The Old Goat ( TOG ) managed to sire 23 children who in turn went on to each produce on average 4 children of there own. They in turn have produced ......(so the number of offspring at this stage is well into three figures.)

Lately, a close relative ( and decendant of TOG) died of CRC ( its quite possible that this had nothing to do with TOG and his genes). Biopsies etc would have been performed and I presume that the results are sitting in the med rec of the deceased.

I have authority to request anything out of that med rec file ( I dont want to request the entire file as it is quite large with things that I suspect dont concern my interest ).

My motivation ? To establish (if there is) / (what is / are ) the tests to indicate which off-spring may be at enhanced risk of CRC due to TOGs genes

Have any of you worked in this area ?
Do you think I'm wasting my time ?
If not, what specific detail in the above med rec should I request on the grounds that they might be of use ?
Also does anyone know of any quasi -consumer orientated offerings for such tests ?

crazy dude

I think the answer is Yes there are genetic tests. TOG or the recent member may have a tumor block in storage they could test. There are maybe 2 main forms of hereditary colorectal cancer that are extremely rare indeed- most colorectal cancer is spontaneous i.e. one off
THE forms are Family Adenomatous Colorectal and Non familial FAP and are rare as hell despite the prominence they receive in text books. This is because they allowed the unravelling a specific oncogene pathway, Beta catenin pathway, that was thought to be involved generally in cancers of the colon. This led to the clonal/ stem cell theory of cancer . Its now thought to be wrong and that the real factor in cancer generation is epigenetic i.e. how genes for repair in cells are turned off inappropriately by nutrient interactions, specifically S-adenylmethionine (SAM) from meat and Folic acid from vegetables. The theory being too much meat and too little folic acid turns of genes of repair in cells and allows errors to amass in cells and then you get a tumor with multiple errors that are not all the same (not clonal or stem cell) and so you're treating a few forms of disease simultaneously.

I think what they do in practise is perform colonoscopies at intervals where they suspect a family history e.g. every year or 5 years. In truth FAP and the otherone are so rare and it is general cancer genes that usually go wrong like P52 , P 27 that effect many tumor types.

I kind of wouldn't worry too much and just get a test every few years.
We are probably a very inbred race alright and genetic diseases can be important