Posted: 02/28/05 - 03:00 Post subject: Is leukemia hereditary?
I am writing here because I want to help my friend. He has adult daughter and is very worried about her. Reason is that his wife died from chronic myelogenous leukemia few years ago. He’s afraid this could be hereditary and wants to know if he should take her to doctor. I need some advice to help him.
For now there is no evidence that Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia is hereditary. Although there are some abnormal genes,caused by presence of the Philadelphia chromosome in this disease. Anyway, this is not something that a parent transmits to a child at birth. This could be confusing at times to patients. The abnormal gene develops in cells as they become leukemic. They are not part of DNA genes which are present at the time of reproduction. This is different from other cancers that are caused by genes that run in family and predispose someone to develop breast or colon cancer. You can freely reassure your friend that his daughter is not at any increased risk of developing leukemia. Also, she doesn’t have to see any special physician.
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