No abstract

DNA-based genetic counseling requires comparison and empathy, coupled with intensive preeducation regarding potential penalties and advantages that might emanate from this knowledge. Special care must be given to patients' culture, beliefs, and traditions.

No abstract

A 7-year follow-up study of colonic mucosa proliferation markers was conducted on members of a Native-American family with hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer. Reproducibility of a tritiated thymidine autoradiography assay for labeling indexes during this 7-year biologically significant time frame was established. A good correlation between tritiated thymidine and a newer technique, bromodeoxyuridine immunoperoxidase staining, was seen. No confounding effect could be attributed to standard colon preparation. On average, both baseline and follow-up values for epithelial proliferation were within the accepted normal range. The presence of essentially normal labeling indexes among colon cancer patients and their high-risk offspring suggests the possibility of the significant effect of dietary factors in reducing proliferation. Such factors may account for the low risk of colon cancer that characterizes the Native-American population in the American Southwest.