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ENVIRONMENTAL AND HERITABLE FACTORS IN THE CAUSATION OF CANCER
Hereditary plays a significant role in susceptibility to prostate, colorectal, and breast cancer. However, heredity plays a minor role in susceptibility to most types of cancers. Data were collected on 44,788 pairs of twins listed in the Swedish, Danish, Finnish twin registries to assess the risk of cancer at 28 anatomic sites. 40-2% of the risk of prostate cancer may be explained by heredity (95% confidence interval, 29 to 50%). Thirty-Five percent of the risks of colorectal cancer may be explained by heredity (95% confidence interval, 10 to 48%), and in breast cancer, 27% of the risk may be attributable to heredity (95% confidence interval, 4 to 41%). Within the 44, 788 pairs of twins in the study, 10, 803 had been diagnosed with at least one cancer. The twin of a person with cancer had an increased risk of having the same cancer, especially for cancers of the stomach, colorectum, lung, breast, and prostate. A twin of an identical twin who had stomach cancer, had a risk 9.9 times that of the identical twin of a person without stomach cancer. There is also suggested evidence of limited heritability of leukemia and of cancer of the stomach, lung, pancreas, ovary, and bladder. An editorial in the same issue of this journal discusses further the effects of heredity verus environmental factors in the development of cancer.
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