Genetic predisposition to cancer: An introduction

Abstract

Evidence that inherited susceptibility plays a role in the risk of malignancy comes from three separate sources of information. The sources are as follows. 1 The observation that, in some syndromes, which are rare in the general population, but which are clearly genetic, there is a dramatically increased risk of cancer in carriers of the mutation(s). Often these syndromes predispose to cancers that are especially rare within the general population.