Groundbreaking vaccine trials aimed at preventing cancers associated with the genetic disorder Lynch syndrome are currently underway.
Why Lynch syndrome?
Sanchez explained that patients with Lynch syndrome are born with a genetic defect in a gene that is involved in DNA repair.
“What happens is that everytime one of our cells is dividing there is new synthesis of DNA and spontaneously in that process there are DNA errors. There are natural systems in our cells that are equipped to recognize that error and correct it so we don’t get mutations all the time,” Sanchez explained.
“What happens in patients with Lynch syndrome is that the genetic defect they are born with is in one of the genes involved in this process of self repair of DNA errors,” he continued.
This means that people with Lynch syndrome are more prone than others to replicate these DNA errors over their lifetime which means an increased risk of cancer.
Lynch Syndrome Ireland 