Genetic Factors

Abstract

Cancer cells behave very much like normal cells which have undergone a mutation and become altered in an inherited fashion. Indeed, as discussed later, one of the major theories of cancer is the somatic mutation hypothesis, the implications of which are as follows. Heredity, as we normally think of it, is determined by properties of the germinal cell line. Characteristics such as eye or hair colour, while expressed in the somatic cells (the differentiated cells of the mature organism), are passed down from generation to generation through the sex cells or gametes. From the hereditary point of view, changes in the genetic material of somatic cells are unimportant because they are never inherited in the next generation. From the point of view of cancer production, however, such changes may be crucial.