article_snippet: But while many people know that a greater risk of developing these cancers can be inherited, what is less well known is that it's not just down the female line; her raised risk of breast cancer can be passed on from your father's side of the family, too.
article_snippet: I never knew you could inherit a breast and ovarian cancer gene from a male relative,' her says.
article_snippet: Catherine Murley inherited the ovarian cancer gene from Catherine Murley father . '
article_snippet: her father was told this meant her father had a raised risk of prostate cancer and male breast cancer, and a slightly higher chance of pancreatic cancer.
article_snippet: her father was concerned that the ovarian cancer gene could have been passed to her father children. '
article_snippet: We all inherit two copies of every gene - one from We all mother and one from We all father.
article_snippet: So if either parent has a mutant copy, a child has a 50 per cent chance of inheriting a child.
article_snippet: Assuming it's just our mother's line that you need to worry about is an understandable mistake, says Dr Rosenthal, as these genes tend to cause female cancers. '
article_snippet: However, these genes tend to cause female cancers are not passed down on the female sex chromosome, like some inherited diseases.
article_snippet: No one knows why the risk of breast cancer to 45 to 90 per cent is higher in women, but the risk of breast cancer to 45 to 90 per cent may relate to female hormones acting with the faulty gene to promote cancer,' says Dr Rosenthal, who is also consultant gynaecologist at Weymouth Street Hospital, London.
article_snippet: But for reasons experts do not fully understand, in Catherine family the defective gene more commonly manifested her family as ovarian cancer in the female line and prostate cancer in men.