Lung cancer can run in families

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A new study shows that relatives of those with lung cancer have an increased risk of getting the disease themselves.
Although it's well known that smoking is a lead cause of lung cancer, less is known of other risk factors. Now researchers at the University of Texas M.D.Anderson Cancer Center reveal that genes may also play a role. They have carried out one of the largest ever studies of family history and lung cancer, involving both men and women.

They looked at nearly 2,500 first degree relatives of patients with lung cancer. These patients had never smoked. The relatives were compared to another similar group of relatives - this time of people who had never smoked and did not have lung cancer. In the first group, there was a 25 per cent increased risk of developing any kind of cancer and at a younger age. When it came to lung cancer, the risk was six times higher in the first group than in the second. The next stage of this work is to look at potential genes that could be responsible for this connection.

Source
American Association for Cancer Rsearch 2nd April 2006