What, smoking no cause all colon cancers.

by SamCogar Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:47 am

A couple who sailed to America from England around 1630 took with them a gene that has put their thousands of descendants at an increased risk of colon cancer.

An American team traced back a mutation found in two large families living in Utah and New York to a couple who were among the early settlers of America.

The team, from the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Utah, did not name the families but said thousands of people across the country may have the mutation that spread widely as the couple’s descendants branched apart over many generations.

“The fact that this mutation can be traced so far back in time suggests it could be carried by many more families in the United States than is currently known,” said Deb Neklason, who led the study. “In fact, this founder mutation might be related to many colon cancer cases in the United States.”

The study did not investigate whether the same mutation may also be responsible for colon cancers in the U.K., but that appears possible.

Less than 1 percent of cases in the U.S. are due to this particular genetic mutation, according to the study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319666,00.html