Who should get their genes checked? Geneticist on cancer: Step by step, we are getting to know it better
If a close relative was diagnosed with cancer in the first decades of life, you should ask your doctor for a referral to a genetic clinic – says Prof. Artur Kowalik from the Świętokrzyskie Oncology Center. Although genes and cancer still hide many mysteries, there is no need to be afraid of knowing about the risk of cancer. In many cases it saves lives. This applies not only to breast cancer, but also to endometrial and colon cancer.
Katarzyna Pinkosz, “Wprost”: Today we know more and more about how important a role genetics plays in cancer treatment. Genes and cancer still have secrets from scientists?
Prof. Artur Kowalik: Every day I learn something new from diagnostic practice and by reading scientific publications on various aspects of biology, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. It's a constant learning experience.
Cancer is fascinating for scientists, but terrible for patients. Genes and cancer still have many mysteries.
Until recently, the diagnosis of the disease consisted only in assessing the size of the tumor and the presence of metastases. Today it is possible to check what genetic change led to the appearance of cancer.
Thanks to scientific research at the end of the last century and the completion of work on sequencing the human genome in 2003, new diagnostic possibilities have opened up. The study of the human genome has resulted in an abundance of information about the presence of mutations, especially in cancer diseases. This stimulates the pharmaceutical industry to produce various types of inhibitors that block mutated proteins that are formed on the basis of faulty “instructions” from mutated genes.
Geneticists in Poland have been performing genetic diagnostics for patients for over 40 years. They quickly introduce new scientific discoveries into practice.
