This review highlights selected examples of a series of tumor suppressors, including the breast cancer gene-1 (BRCA1), p53, the Wilm's tumor protein-1 (WT1) and the von Hippel-Lindau gene (VHL), whose mechanisms of action involve regulation of IGF1R gene expression.
Here we present one of the youngest cases of breast cancer reported in the literature: a 21-year-old Wilms' tumor survivor (diagnosed at age 6), who was found to have a familial BRCA1 mutation and was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ at age 21.
Such a gene might be observed in families, as has been documented in familial breast cancer (BRCA1/2), familial colorectal cancer (HNPCC), retinoblastoma (RB1), and Wilms tumor (WT1).
Examples include the RB1 gene for retinoblastoma; the WT1 gene for Wilms' tumor; germline p53 mutations in families with the Li-Fraumeni syndrome; the NF1 and NF2 genes for neuroblastomatosis, types 1 and 2; the VHL gene for renal cancer and other tumors associated with Von Hippel-Lindau disease; the APC gene for adenomatous polyposis coli; the BRCA1 gene for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer; and the mismatch repair genes for colon and other common cancers.