Testicular Cancer: Nature vs. Nurture

A recent study has found that while DNA generally accounts for 20% of development of most cancers, for testicular cancer in particular, this number jumps to 50% from DNA.
According to Dr. Clare Turnbull of the Genetics and Epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer Research, "Screening of men with a family history of testicular cancer could help to diagnose those at greatest risk, and help them to manage that risk." A statistical analylsis was done on a data set that included 9,324 cases of testicular cancer. Then, a team analyzed the genetic code of 6,000 men. By using these methods, it revealed the information that 49% of risk factors for testicular cancer are inherited.

This risk apparently comes from numerous minor DNA variations as opposed to one significantly faulty gene. This analysis also showed that known mutations associated with testicular cancer were only able to account for 9.1% of the risk, showing that there is still much research to be done to discover other gene mutations that cause this development.

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