the notion that cancer is a genetic disease has gained increasing credence from the now numerous studies in which specific alterations of chromosome and of gene structure and activity in a variety of cancers have been identified , and , in particular , with the increasing awareness of the heritability of factors that predispose to the development of early , specific cancers in the offspring of parents carrying these predisposing genes .
C0019247
genetic disease
C0008625
alterations