preview

Lung Cancer

Better Essays

The Genetics of Lung Cancer
Catherine Hayworth
BIO 355A/357A
June 14, 2012
Colorado Christian University

Cancer can be one of the hardest battles that one must face, whether that battle is lost or won, it changes the lives of everyone involved. Lung cancer is one of the most diagnosed cancers and it affects the lining of the lungs and the ability to breathe. Lung cancer is the number one killer of men and women than any other cancer worldwide. This cancer is mostly found in smokers and this is why professionals are targeting this population for testing for diagnosing early and possibly saving a life (www.ncb.nlm.nih.gov). Lung cancer refers to the malignancies that originate in the airways or pulmonary parenchyma. It is …show more content…

According to the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) the researchers identified a large region on human chromosome 6 that conferred greater lung cancer risk in families with many affected individuals. Subsequent painstaking analysis to pinpoint the source of the elevated risk now has paid off with the identification of the precise culprit, a gene called RGS17. Researchers conducted fine-mapping of the suspect region of chromosome 6 in members of families in which five or more individuals over multiple generations were diagnosed with lung cancer. The region contains approximately 100 genes. Precise computational analysis uncovered similar variants in the DNA sequence for members of the families with lung cancer. These variants, called single nucleotide polymorphisms (or SNPS) directed the researchers to the RGS17 gene. The conclusions of this analysis are that RGS17 plays a major role in lung cancer susceptibility, and individuals who carry the higher-risk version of this gene have an increased susceptibility to lung cancer when exposed to environmental risk factors, such as smoking. While the research showed that RGS17 is an important gene for lung cancer susceptibility in families with a high incidence of lung cancer, the researchers did not see any

Get Access