Colon cancer in the family? It could be Lynch syndrome.

In 10 seconds? Lynch syndrome is a hereditary condition that can increase the likelihood of colon cancer. These sorts of conditions can have important implications for cancer screening recommendations and treatments.

Wait, wait, could you explain how Lynch syndrome is linked to cancer? Coming right up! As a reminder, DNA serves as the operations manual for all cells in our body–dictating what all cells must do to work cooperatively. Cancerous cells undergo DNA mutations that make them grow out of sync with the rest of our cells in our bodies. In healthy conditions, cells have many safeguards to protect their DNA from accumulating mutations, one of which is the ability to fix naturally-occurring mutations in our DNA. Lynch syndrome is a hereditary condition whereby DNA repair processes are damaged (namely, a process called mismatch repair), which makes DNA mutations more likely to occur and go uncorrected. People with Lynch syndrome don't experience any symptoms but have a higher risk of developing cancer (although they could just as well live their whole lives cancer-free).