Can I pass on prostate cancer to my sons if I'm a girl but my dad had it?
Pretty much every guy on my dad's side of the family has had prostate cancer before they were 60. My brother may or may not get it, too. I know I can't get it, obviously, since I'm a girl, but is there any way I could somehow pass this on if I have sons? I can't find anywhere if it's a gene on the Y (sex gene) or just a random allele. If it's a sex gene, then a mom needs to be a carrier, in which case I could potentially give it to my boys. ... Or does it have nothing, really, to do with genes? Lol I'm not worried, I'm just crazy curious XDD It's driving me nuts haha
Cancer - 5 Answers
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1 :
Prostate cancer is influenced by Genes, but not the way you're thinking of. You will most likely carry on to your sons the "Trigger" of it. It's a very complicated theory that I shouldn't go into detail on YA!. But, there is a good chance that later in life, they might develop this cancer. There's nothing to fret, though. Knowing that it runs in your genes is so much more helpful! They'll know that they need to go in for regular screenings, and if you catch Prostate Cancer early, it is 100% treatable and there's a huge chance if it's early, they can get it all.
2 :
To the best of my knowledge it is not on the sex genes but I'm recalling that from a bio-class and hope someone else can clarify. I'm not sure where you are getting your information about 'mom needs to be a carrier' if your father has a mutated gene and passed it on to you then you have a 50% chance of passing it on as a carrier. If it was on his X then you would have it to pass on but your brother would not (which is part of why i'm pretty sure it's not a simple sex gene transmission).
3 :
Genetic factors play a part in the development of prostate cancer. But I don't think that you should worry yourself unduly at this time about having a family. 5 to 10% of prostate cancers may be due to genetic factors but age is the most important factor and the older a man becomes the more likely he is to develop prostate cancer. Diet also is a factor and whether you are black or white. Black people are more prone to it. If it is detected early clearly it can be cured but many people who have prostate cancer die from other diseases as it is often slow growing and is only detected by autopsy on the death of the patient suffering from diseases such as heart attack etc.
4 :
So far, Isaacs and colleagues at Hopkins and the National Human Genome Research Institute have found good evidence that at least two of these defective genes do indeed exist: One is somewhere on Chromosome 1, and the other, most recently discovered, ties on the X chromosome -- a milestone in cancer research, this is the first time the X chromosome (which sons inherit from their mothers) has been definitively linked to a major cancer. Isaacs would love to start figuring out the role those aberrant genes play in the cascade of events leading to prostate cancer. Instead, he is steeling himself to keep turning over those pieces -- in this case, the pieces are thousands of undiscovered genes--until he can see the puzzle in its entirety. Although they haven't yet pinpointed the faulty genes on either chromosome, Isaacs and colleagues have identified certain characteristics that suggest which mutation a family may have: In families with a mutated HPC1 gene: At least five men in the immediate family, or multiple men in multiple generations, have prostate cancer. The average age of diagnosis is younger than 65. There is evidence of father-to-son transmission. In families linked to a mutated HPCX gene, the defect is always passed on from the mother: In this case, a father cannot pass the disease to his son. (X and Y are the "sex" chromosomes, and they distinct pattern of inheritance. Fathers always pass along the Y chromosome to their sons. A man inherits the X chromosome from his mother--so every man has one X and one Y chromosome. Women have two X chromosomes.) "We now know of at least two different methods of transmission of prostate cancer," says Isaacs, "from father to son, and mother to son. Say a man has prostate cancer, so does his brother, and so does his father. Then right away we can say that we don't think this is an X-linked family, because there's no way for a father to pass on a mutated gene on the X chromosome." However, the father can pass it on to his daughters, who then can transmit it it to their sons-the father's grandsons. In such families, prostate cancer might seem to skip a generation. "My sons cannot inherit a mutated X gene from me, but they could from their mother," continues Isaacs. "A classic example of an X-linked prostate cancer would be: My mother's brothers have prostate cancer. My mother can't be affected but she passes the gene on to me and my brothers. We can't pass it on to our sons, but my sister inherited the gene; and she passes it on to her sons. The only offspring of my generation that could have it would be my nephews.
5 :
I wouldn't fret. Your sons will be more at risk than others, but knowing is half the battle. You'll just want your children to go in for earlier screening. My husband is 30 and was told that in his early 30s is the right time for early screening. His father's prostate cancer is in remission now and has been for over a year. The great thing about prostate cancer (if you are going to have cancer at all) is that they've been able to create several treatment plans to quickly force the cancer back into remission in most cases.
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