Ep. 379: What is hereditary cancer?

Guest: Dr. Brian Shirts, University of Washington

“Hereditary cancer is a cancer risk you inherit from your parents or grandparents.”

“But it’s more than just your direct family. Hereditary cancer is a genetic link you may have to your ancestors and your distant relatives – people you may or may not know or even know about, but they are a part of your family tree and if they had a rare cancer, you may very well get it too,” says Dr. Brian Shirts. The University of Washington’s Department of Laboratory Medicine is Dr Shirts’ home base and it is also home to Connect My Variant.

Connect My Variant is a project designed to help people and their families understand the medical uncertainties that rare genetic variants may play in their well-being. Dr Shirts heads up the team and connectmyvarient.org and he says, “We educate, provide resources and we help families connect within their extended family tree to provide resources that help put people in touch with clinical facilities and studies.”

Shirts says, “We know of more than 200,000 people who have benefited from early knowledge about potential rare cancers by looking at hereditary links. We also estimate in the U.S., more than 2.5 million people could prevent cancer or reduce the impact of cancer just by knowing a family member developed a rare cancer.”

Stuart McNish invited Dr. Brian Shirts to join him for a Conversation That Matters about the power knowledge brings to developing precise medical strategies to prevent and treat rare cancers early.