Diet, genetic susceptibility and human cancer etiology.

There is evidence that high penetrance hereditary genes cause a number of relatively uncommon tumors in the familial setting, whereas common cancers are influenced by multiple loci that alter susceptibility to cancer and other conditions. The latter category of genes are involved in the metabolism of carcinogens (activation, detoxification) as well as those that interact with dietary exposure. This paper will consider some of the basic principles in studying susceptibility genes and provide a few examples in which they interact with dietary components.