| ■ Gene Has Strong Ties to Stomach Cancer | 07.06.11 |
| SUNDAY, June 3 (HealthDay News) -- Canadian researchers say they've identified genetic mutations linked to a form of stomach cancer called hereditary diffuse gastric cancer. They did so by conducting genetic analyses of members of 38 families with the disease.The mutations they identified in the study participants were due to both common ancestry and independent mutational events. Hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC) is caused by mutations in the gene CDH1. Of the 38 families in the study, 26 families had at least two gastric cancer cases, with one case of HDGC in a person younger than age 50; 12 families had either a single case of HDGC in a person younger than age 35 or multiple cases of HDGC in people older than age 50. The researchers from the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver identified 13 mutations (six newly discovered) in 15 of the 38 families -- 40 percent. |