Breast and Colon Cancer Family Registries

For Families

Cancer has emerged as one of the most complex and challenging diseases of the twenty-first century. While we have learned about the development and risk factors of cancer, there is still much we do not understand. Scientists know that having a family history of cancer increases one’s risk of developing cancer. However, having a genetic susceptibility to cancer does not mean that a person will develop cancer as cancer risk is modified by lifestyle, diet, and other environmental factors. Additionally, the currently known genes only account for a fraction of cancer cases that run in families. Therefore, discovering the causes of familial cancer through genetic susceptibility and its interaction with environmental factors remains an important area of research.

Traditional research methods of gathering patients in one hospital or university have been useful in the past; however, new methods are needed to make further progress in familial cancers. In order to understand how cancer runs in families, researchers need to gather large numbers of families who have varying cancer risks and different numbers of cases. The Breast and Colon Cancer Family Registries have made significant progress in the enrollment of families across the spectrum of cancer risk and is now one of the world’s largest resources of its kind for scientific researchers.

To find out if your family is eligible, please continue to Can I Participate?

For those families who have already decided to enroll in the Breast and Colon Cancer Family Registries, we thank you for your participation. The continued participation of cancer patients and relatives is crucial to the success of the registries and their valuable role in scientific research.