2006 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript
This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2006. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.
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How does cancer affect your genes?
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Heidi Parker, Ph.D.: Cancer is a disease that causes cells to duplicate and divide uncontrolled. When this happens many of the usual checkpoints are bypassed and the division does not go as planned. Mutations are introduced, chromosomes don't segregate correctly, and there are often deletions and duplications of regions or even whole chromosomes. The cancer cells then have a very mixed up genome that does not allow the cell to function correctly. |
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