Abstract
The Jews are an ancient and unique group of people linked by language, religion and customs in spite of their major geographical shifts, expulsions, forced conversions and massacres throughout their entire history. As a result of these historical events that led to repeated migration, the Jewish people became dispersed into various ethnic sub-groups. Between these ethnic groups exists heterogeneity, as well as some similarities, to the populations amongst whom they lived. Rare genetic diseases have been reported to be prevalent among the different groups of Jews, which for the most part can be explained by random genetic drift together with intra-familial marriages. In this publication, we will briefly discuss the origin of the various ethnic groups and some of the genetic diseases commonly found in them, with emphasis on the Ashkenazim, their prevalent genetic diseases and cancer susceptibility.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sachar AL.A history of the Jews,5th edition.New York: A.A. Knof 1965.
Goodman RM.Genetic disorders among the Jewish People. Baltimore,Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press 1979.
Statistic Abstracts of Israel,Central Bureau of Statistics,Jerusalem. Government Press 2000;84-85.
Bonne ´-Tamir B, Ashbel S, Kennet R. Genetic markers:benign and normal traits of Ashkenazi Jews.In Goodman RM, Motulsky AG (eds):Genetic Diseases Among Ashkenazi Jews.New York: Raven Press 1979;54-76.
Ritte U, Neufeld E, Broit M et al.The differences among Jewish communities-maternal and paternal contributions.J Mol Evol 1993;37:435-40.
Hammer MF, Redd AJ, Wood ET et al. Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes.Proc Natl Acad Sci 2000;97: 6769-74.
Nebel A, Filon D, Brinkmann B et al.The Y chromosome pool of Jews as part of the genetic landscape of the Middle East.Am J Hum Genet 2001;69:1095-112.
Thomas MG, Weale ME, Jones AL et al.Founding mothers of Jewish communities:geographically separated Jewish groups were independently founded by few female ancestors.Am J Hum Genet 2002;70:1411-20.
MIM Statistics (March 2003).Retrieved from http:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Omim/Stats/mimstars.html on 1 June 2004.
Goodman RM, Motulsky AG (eds):Genetic Diseases among Ashkenazi Jews.New York: Raven Press 1979.
Navon R, Proia RL.Tay Sachs Disease mutations among Moroccan Jews.In Bonne ´-Tamir B and Adam A (eds):Genetic Diversity Among Jews.New York: Oxford University Press 1992.
Peterson GM, Rotter JI, Cantor RM et al.The Tay-Sachs disease gene in North American Jewish populations:geographic variations and origin.Am J Hum Genet 1983;35:1258-69.
Risch N, Tang H, Katzenstein H, Ekstein J.Geographic distribution of disease mutations in the Ashkenazi Jewish population supports genetic drift over selection.Am J Genet 2003;72:812-22.
Zlotogora J, Bach G.The possibility of a selection process in the Ashkenazi Jewish population.Am J Genet 2003;73:438-40.
Peleg L, Pesso R, Goldman B et al.Bloom syndrome and Fanconi 's Anemia:rate and ethnic origin of mutation carriers in Israel.Isr Med Assoc J 2002;4:95-7.
Lowy A, Kordich JJ, Gismondi V et al.Numerous colonic adenomas in an individual with Bloom 's syndrome.Gastroenterology 2001;121:435-9.
Auerbach AD.Fanconi Anemia and leukemia:tracking the genes. Leukemia 1992;6 (Suppl 1):1-4.
Rosenberg PS, Greene MH, Alter BP.Cancer incidence in persons with Fanconi anemia.Blood 2003;101:822-6.
Tamary H, Bar-Yam R, Shalmon L et al. Fanconi anaemia group A (FANCA)mutations in Israeli non-Ashkenazi Jewish patients. Br J Haematol 2000;111:338-43.
Howlett NG, Taniguchi T, Olson S et al.Biallelic inactivation of BRCA2 in Fanconi Anemia.Science 2002;297:606-9.
Of t K, Levran O, Mullaney B et al.Shared genetic susceptibility to breast cancer,brain tumors,and Fanconi anemia.J Natl Cancer Inst 2003;95:1548-51.
Fitzgerald MG, MacDonald DJ, Krainer M et al.Germ-line BRCA1 mutations in Jewish and non-Jewish women with early-onset breast cancer.N Engl J Med 1996;334:143-9.
Bruchim Bar-Sade R, Theodor L, Gak E et al. Could the 185delAG BRCA1 mutation be an ancient Jewish mutation?Eur J Hum Gene 1997;51:413-16.
Bruchim Bar-Sade R, Kruglikova A, Modan B et al.The 185delAG BRCA1 mutation originated before the dispersion of Jews in the Diaspora and is not limited to Ashkenazim.Hum Mol Genet 1998;7:801-5.
Shiri-Sverdlov R, Gershoni-Baruch R, Ichezkel-Hirsch G et al. The Tyr978X BRCA1 mutation in non-Ashkenazi Jews:occurrence in high-risk families,general population and unselected ovarian cancer patients.Community Genet 2001;4:50-5.
Oddoux C, Struewing JP, Clayton CM et al.The carrier frequency of the BRCA2 6174delT mutation among Ashkenazi Jewish individuals is approximately 1%.Nat Genet 1996;14: 188-90.
Neuhausen S, Gilewski LN, Tran T et al.Recurrent BRCA2 6174delT mutations in Ashkenazi Jewish women affected by breast cancer.Nat Genet 1996;13:126-8.
Levy-Lahad E, Catane R, Eisenberg S et al. Founder BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in Ashkenazi Jews in Israel:frequency and differential penetrance in ovarian cancer and in breast-ovarian cancer families.Am J Hum Genet 1997;60:1059-67.
Lerer I, Wang T, Peretz T et al.The 8765delAG mutation in BRCA2 is common among Jews of Yemenite extraction.Am J Hum Genet 1998;63:272-4.
Abeliovich D, Kaduri L, Lerer I et al.The founder mutations 185delAG and 5382insC in BRCA1 and 6174delT in BRCA2 appear in 60%of ovarian cancer and 30%of early-onset breast cancer patients among Ashkenazi women.Am J Hum Genet 1997; 60:505-14.
Laken SJ, Petersen GM, Gruber SB et al.Familial colorectal cancer in Ashkenazim due to a hypermutable tract in APC.Nat Genet 1997;17:79-83.
Rozen P, Naiman T, Strul H et al.Clinical and screening implications of the I1307K adenomatous polyposis coli gene variant in Israeli Ashkenazi Jews with familial colorectal neoplasia.Evidence for a founder effect.Cancer 2002;94: 2561-8.
Chen-Shtoyerman R, Theodor L, Harmati E et al.Genetic analysis of familial colorectal cancer in Israeli Arabs.Hum Mut 2003;21: 446-7.
Foulkes WD, Thiffault I, Gruber SB et al.The founder muta-tion MSH2*1906G>C is an important cause of hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer in the Ashkenazi Jewish population.Am J Hum Genet 2002;71:1395-412.
Guillem JG, Rapaport BS, Kirchhoff T et al.A636P is associated with early-onset colon cancer in Ashkenazi Jews.J Am Coll Surg 2003;196:222-5.
Rozen P, Samuel Z, Brazowski E.A prospective study of the clinical,genetic,screening and pathological features of a family with hereditary mixed polyposis syndrome.Am J Gastroenterol 2003;98:2317-20.
Jaeger EEM, Woodford-Richens KL, Lockett M et al.An ancestral Ashkenazi haplotype at the HMPS/CRAC1 locus on 15q13-q14 is associated with hereditary mixed polyposis syndrome. Am J Hum Genet 2003;72:1261-7.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kedar-Barnes, I., Paul, R. The Jewish people: their ethnic history, genetic disorders and specific cancer susceptibility. Familial Cancer 3, 193–199 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10689-004-9544-0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10689-004-9544-0