Cancer legacy

Cancer legacy -

you are currently viewing the summary.

See the full text

Username Enter your username Sciencemag.org .

Password Enter the password that accompanies your username.

you have forgotten your username or password?

---

• Join / Subscribe
• Buy article
• member account Enable
• Renew subscription
• Recommend a subscription to your library
• Help for librarians

Summary

[1945054décennies] An adult with cancer may have spent the accumulation of genetic abnormalities and suffering the effects of poor diet, smoking and other environmental factors. But many people thought that childhood cancers were non-standard events. Over the past two years, however, hundreds of young people with cancer have had their DNA sequenced non-cancerous cells. These efforts are now turning evidence that a considerable subset of childhood cancers are rooted in inherited genes, or mutations so soon after conception they invade every cell. The results raise the hope that some cancers, or in children who survive their first combat or their siblings and parents, could be avoided or caught early. But they also raise complicated questions about what to say to the families, either to other family members screen for certain mutations, and what to do if parents share them.

• ↵ * Photography by Jeff Haller and Meggan Haller

Tweet