Question

Is cancer inherited?

Answer 1

Cancer is the group of abnormal growth of tissue and it has a potential to spread over the body. Cancer occurs through the transformation of new cells to the tumor cells. Cancer may or may not be inherited from family to children. This inheritation is caused by a small change in the gene called mutation. Based on risk of cancer it will be inherited.

Complete answer:
Due to the mutation the infected cell is transported to the new generation it may result in cancer. Most of the cancers are acquired cancer and few types of cancer will inherit. We may say cancer causes changes in the gene but not the inheritation. So the inherited variation in different genes may cause cancer from the parents to children.
Family members are sharing the genes and may share the gene mutation. Increased risk cancers may inherit. They are breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and pancreatic cancer. So these types of cancer may occur to the children of family members affected by the cancer.
Inherited gene mutation is present in the sperm or egg then it will form a baby. During the fertilization one cell is divided into many. If all the cells come from the first cell then this mutation will occur in every cell and pass to the baby.

Note:
Family cancer syndrome is caused by inherited mutation in tumor suppressor genes. Cancer occurs in a pair of organs like ears, eyes, kidneys and breasts. So the abnormal changes in the gene are called the mutation. This mutation either stops the gene activity or makes it active all the time. So it may cause problems in cells and produce the growth of tumor cells. So cancer is a genetic disease.