INHERITANCE OF PANCREATIC CANCER IN PANCREATIC CANCER–PRONE FAMILIES

Families are being increasingly recognized as carrying an inherited susceptibility for pancreatic cancer, apparently unrelated to any currently recognized syndrome. The authors provide a review of the current evidence for familial susceptibility to pancreatic cancer. A formal segregation analysis of the pattern of inheritance of pancreatic cancer in 70 families from the National Registry for Familial Pancreatic Cancer is described. This analysis suggests a single major gene with an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance controlling susceptibility for pancreatic cancer in these families.