Those who attended the B2PCA shindig near Leicester last month will recall Prof Julian Harwell mentioning this genetic condition. I have just received results of my own testing using a bit of bladder cancer tumour taken from me way back. I wanted to pursue the genetic aspect because both my late younger brother and I have had both bladder and prostate cancer and a cousin also has low grade PCa. Coupled with that my dear old Mum dead these 24 years had bowel polyps and thus a colostomy some 25 years before that. The spectrum of cancers included in Lynch syndrome includes colorectal cancer and cancers of the urinary system, kidney and ureters, together with an increased risk of bowel polyps.
In my own case, testing for the mismatch repair proteins associated with Lynch was negative. The negative result suggests that the polyps and urinary cancers are "sporadic or caused by a weaker genetic component that we currently do not fully understand. This negative result does rule out a high risk cancer condition so is reassuring at this time"
I agree! I had earlier been advised by the Genetic Counsellor based on an analysis of my family tree and medical histories that the risk of my son inheriting PCa was less than ,0.7%. I mentioned to the B2PCA gathering that I was reassured by that as I had naively supposed the risk to be pretty high.
The advice I have been given is that for my son, who is 40 this year, annual PSA testing should begin this year..
I thought the community would be interested in this minor exploration of NHS genetic testing!
AC