Utah records help trace colon-cancer mutation

Exhaustive cross-checking of current cancer records with the massive Utah Population Database genealogical archive has traced a colon cancer-related mutation back 16 generations and to 7,000 descendants of a Pilgrim family that arrived here from Europe in the 1630s.

What that means, according to researchers who released the findings Wednesday at the American Chemical Society's national conference at the Salt Palace, is that routine screening and education can prevent people with the mutated gene from developing cancer.

Scientists have found that the mutation causes a condition known as attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis,or AFAP, the condition that causes the growth of colorectal polyps that have the potential of becoming cancerous.

People with the AFAP mutation have about a 2-in-3 risk of getting colon cancer. The risk is 1-in-24 in the general population.

Deb Neklason, a researcher with the Department of Oncological Studies at the University of Utah, and other researchers said they traced the genetic cancer precursor to a Utah pioneer family and its 7,000 descendants. A New York family with the same condition linked to the Utah group, which helped trace 16 generations back to the George Fry family that arrived in Massachusetts colony aboard the William & Mary 370 years ago.

"Our work demonstrates that colon cancer can be prevented with proper screening and care," Neklason said. "Aggressive education and clinical intervention over a seven-year window in the Utah family has already prevented seven colon cancers."

That might be the tip of the iceberg, she added, noting that there might be thousands more people at risk of inheriting the mutated gene.

About 200 of Fry's descendants with the genetic mutations were studied using an extensive diet questionnaire.

Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States, with more than 150,000 cases diagnosed nationwide. Most cases do not result from any known inherited mutations but from a combination of high-fat diets and obesity contributing to the occurrence of premalignant colon polyps.

The U. researchers say they plan to study so-called chemoprevention — how to make polyps shrink or recede entirely.

E-MAIL: jthalman@desnews.com