Is bladder cancer hereditary?

Whether bladder cancer is hereditary is a question that has attracted much attention from us. This question cannot be answered without some evidence. But let's take a look at this article. It will help us resolve our doubts.

People whose parents or siblings have had bladder cancer have an increased risk of developing the disease themselves, Swiss researchers report.

The findings add to growing evidence that bladder cancer, the fourth most common cancer among men in the United States and Western Europe, is at least partly hereditary, the researchers reported. Another known risk factor for bladder cancer is smoking.

"Although both genetic and environmental factors contribute to bladder cancer, little is known about the family incidence of bladder cancer," the experts wrote in the article.

In the study, scientists reviewed the incidence records of more than 2,000 offspring of bladder cancer patients and found that the brothers of male patients who developed cancer before the age of 45 had the highest risk of the disease, which was 7 times that of normal male brothers.

Sons of parents with bladder cancer had a 35 percent higher risk of developing bladder cancer than offspring of healthy parents. Daughters of parents with bladder cancer had a two-fold higher risk of developing bladder cancer than daughters of healthy parents. Overall, individuals with a sibling with bladder cancer had a three-fold higher risk of developing bladder cancer than individuals with healthy siblings, the researchers reported in the December 2001 issue of The Journal of Urology.

Bladder cancer is three to four times more common in men than in women, with the highest incidence in older men. The authors suggest that the higher incidence in men may be due to a cancer-related gene on the X chromosome.

Because males have only one X chromosome, they are more susceptible to mutations on the X chromosome than females, who have two X chromosomes.

The experts concluded: "The high risk in sibs and the sex-specific effects we found may reflect the presence of a bladder cancer susceptibility gene on the X chromosome."

Bladder cancer does show a certain tendency in heredity, but this does not mean that it will be inherited, so we should not worry too much. Maintaining a positive attitude and facing this problem correctly will be of great benefit to us.