Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (NEN) – genetic related syndromes

Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (NEN) – genetic related syndromes

Awareness, Patient Advocacy
Cancer is a genetic disorder. It happens when genes that manage cell activity mutate and create abnormal cells that divide and multiply, eventually disrupting how your body works.  Medical researchers estimate 5% to 12% of all cancers are caused by inherited genetic mutations that you can’t control. More frequently, cancer happens as an acquired genetic mutation. Acquired genetic mutations happen over the course of your life. This is a very general description of the close relationships between genetics and cancer but I wanted to focus below on hereditary syndromes and genetic disorders related to Neuroendocrine Neoplasms. Definitions - the differences between Hereditary vs Familial vs Genetic Disorders I wanted to start with these definitions because people may unintentionally use these three terms interchangeably which is sometimes not the correct use of…
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Genetics and Neuroendocrine Tumors

Genetics and Neuroendocrine Tumors

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship
Hereditary genetics.....where to focus In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that a number of Neuroendocrine tumours arise as a result of germline genetic mutations and are inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. The number of genes implicated is increasing and I cannot guarantee this post will contain all of them. Apparently, 5-10% of NETs are estimated to have a hereditary background. Hereditary syndromes associated with these include Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia (MEN), Von Hippel Lindau (VHL), Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1), Tuberous Sclerosis (TS) and others. People who have a genetic condition may present with the tumors (perhaps along with an associated functional hormone syndrome) and so the genetic condition if there is one, may not be known at this point. [caption id="attachment_14317" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Overview of genes with recurrent…
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