A polygenic model of inherited predisposition to cancer 0892.6638/96/001 0-0865/$01.50. © FASEB 865

Abstract

ABSTRACT Polygenic inheritance of predisposi-tion to cancer is demonstrated in experimental ani-mals for different tumor types. Genetic susceptibility to hepatocarcinogenesis, lung tumorigenesis, skin and intestine carcinogenesis, and plasmacytom-agenesis is determined by inheritance of multiple cancer predisposition and resistance alleles, whose chromosomal locations have been found by genetic linkage analysis. In some of these experimental mod-els, genetic heterogeneity has also been reported. In humans, increased risk of lung cancer associated with multiple genes coding for drug metabolizing en-zymes, increased risk of cancer in relatives of cancer patients, and genetic heterogeneity are compatible with polygemc inheritance of cancer predisposition