That Cancer Conversation podcast – Can I inherit cancer?

Our DNA is made up of 3000 million letters of code. They make up genes within our DNA and are responsible for how cells in our body grow and multiply. But what happens when something in that code goes wrong?

Welcome to another episode of That Cancer Conversation, a podcast from Cancer Research UK that brings together the science and the stories behind cancer.

In this episode, Sophie will be looking at the human genome and explore how changes in our DNA can increase our risk of getting cancer. Professor Mike Stratton, former director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute and a pioneer in cancer genetics, helps unpack this question and tells us how he and his team persevered to find the second BRCA gene (BRCA2) and its mutation.

It’s been 30 years since the discovery of the first BRCA gene, BRCA1. Sophie sits down with Maria, her sister, Chrissy, and their mother, all who were tested positive for the BRCA2 gene mutation. They discuss their cancer stories and how the life-changing discovery of the BRCA genes has affected them as a family.

Read the transcript here