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CHAPTER 5

Screening for Hereditary

Cancer in Latin America

†
Karin Alvarez*, Carolina Alvarez**, Mev Domínguez , Pilar Carvallo**
*Laboratory of Oncology and Molecular Genetics, Coloproctology Unit,
Clinica las Condes, Santiago, Chile; **Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty
of Biological Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile;
† Department of Tumor Biology, Institute for Cancer Research,
Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway

INTRODUCTION

Human Molecular Genetics studies on diverse hereditary diseases started in
Latin America in the 1990s with few countries having a well-developed Molec-
ular Biology at the time. Geneticists from Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina,
and Chile gathered at the first association, the Latin American Program of
the Human Genome (PLAGH). Later in 2000, a second initiative replaced
PLAGH and created RELAGH, which is the Latin American Network in Human
Genetics, in which most South American countries participate, in addition to
Mexico, Cuba, and Costa Rica. RELAGH organizes a meeting every two years
with the participation of several countries’ representatives. The long distances
among many Latin American countries and the scarcity of funds for science
research in most places have made it difficult to congregate a high number of
scientists at our meetings, as well as to establish collaborations. Regardless all
the difficulties, nowadays, several countries have respectable and productive
research programs in Molecular Genetics focused either on genetic diseases or
on hereditary cancer. The first studies based on screening for mutations in can-
didate genes in hereditary cancer were carried out by electrophoretic analyses
such as Single Strand Conformation Polymorphisms (SSCPs), heteroduplex

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