Inheriting a gene that increases one’s risk for the development of cancer is like inheriting a loaded gun. That gun never needs to go off unless someone or something pulls the trigger.
When we think of cigarette smoking and the health risks that come with that activity, we think of lung cancer, emphysema and other breathing ailments; however, we typically do not think of Colon Cancer.
Well, as per an article published in February of 2010 in the journal Clinical Cancer Research that thinking may soon change.
Researchers have known for years that cigarette smoking is not only related lung cancer. It is as well associated with other cancers such as Kidney Cancer and Throat Cancer.
The findings in this recent study indicate, however, that it may as well increase the chances of developing Colon Cancer in people who inherit a gene that makes them more susceptible to the development of colon cancer.
Drs. Pandel and Lynch of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas studied a total of 752 people who were known to have inherited a gene for a form of colon cancer known as the Lynch Syndrome type of colon cancer. This form of colon cancer is also called the HNPCC syndrome. What they found is that patients who inherited the gene for this form of cancer and who smoked had a much higher chance of developing colon cancer than in patients who inherited that gene and who did not smoke – or who had quit smoking for at least 2 years or more.
The key here is that cigarette smoking seems to increase the risk of colon cancer in these people who have already inherited a gene that places them at an increased risk of cancer. As we mentioned earlier, this is comparable to having inherited a loaded gun, but it did not go off until cigarette smoking comes along and pulls the trigger.
What we can “take away” from the findings of these researchers is that cigarette smoking, although known to be harmful to the lungs can hurt us in ways that we never imagined. If, by chance, a person has inherited the gene for this form of colon cancer, does not know it AND starts to smoke cigarettes, his or her risk of colon cancer is thus increased. As such, it is important to not start smoking and if we already smoke, to do all we can to stop smoking. As we can see from this recent journal article, like a sinister and stealthy assailant, cigarette smoking can cause us harm in many and sometimes unexpected ways. All of these concepts and many more are discussed in easy to understand language in the Colon Cancer Audio CD available on the Internet web site www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com.