Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 357, Issue 9254, 10 February 2001, Pages 444-445
The Lancet

Research Letters
Genetic-susceptibility factor and malignant mesothelioma in the Cappadocian region of Turkey

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(00)04013-7Get rights and content

Summary

Erionite present in stones used to build the villages of Karain and Tuzköy, Turkey, mined from nearby caves, is purported to cause mesothelioma in half of the villagers. We constructed genetic epidemiology maps to test whether some villagers were genetically predisposed to mesothelioma. Analysis of a six-generation extended pedigree of 526 individuals showed that mesothelioma was genetically transmitted, probably in an autosomal dominant way. This finding should lead to preventive strategies to lower the incidence of mesothelioma in future generations, and close monitoring of high-risk individuals might allow early detection and cure.

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There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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    Citation Excerpt :

    However, this alone could not explain an epidemic where 50% of all Cappadocia villagers died from mesothelioma, compared to only 4.6% of asbestos miners with at least 10 consecutive years of work.1 After nearly 3 years of living among the villagers, Roushdy-Hammady et al. documented a Cappadocia villager pedigree and described a highly penetrant Mendelian transmission of disease.2 Once the pathogenic BAP1 mutations were found,3 follow-up experimental studies4–6 illuminated how BAP1 and asbestos exposure synergistically cause dangerous oncogenic effects in a gene-environment (GxE) interaction.7

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