Genetics and large-bowel cancer

Abstract

There are a number of genetic disorders that predispose to the development of cancer of the colon. However, certain questions can be raised that when answered may give us further insight into the relationship of genetics and cancer of the colon: What is the relative frequency of the Gardner syndrome and of familial polyposis coli? Are there differences in the number and distribution of polyps in the two conditions? Are there subcategories within these two major recognizable disorders? Are there other hereditary polyposis states? What is the relation between age and the number of polyps, and does this vary from family to family? What is the behavior of familial polyposis, both in regard to the polyps and in regard to the development of cancer, in low bowel-cancer areas of the world? What percent of all bowel cancer is accounted for by these defined hereditary polyposis cases? Finally, what is the connection between gene and phene in the several forms of hereditary polyposis? What are, to invent a term parallel to Dr. Wynder's “metabolic epidemiology”, the “metabolic genetics?”