As seen on CNN 2 min. They said as far as they knew the mutation was present only in Ashkenazi Jews, or Jews of European descent. The cases are usually diagnosed when patients are in their 50s and 60s. More than 95 percent of the estimated 6 million Jews in the U.S. are Ashkenazi. It creates an Achilles heel in the gene.
Colon cancers are usually curable if caught early.
The mutation, described in the journal Nature Genetics, involves the APC gene, long known to be involved in colon cancer. Researchers figure more than 680,000 people around the world carry the mutation, and have a 20 percent to 30 percent chance of getting colorectal cancer. The research has implications for the rest of the population as well. The gene contains a common type of mutation, once thought harmless, and researchers say they will now search other genes for the same mutation to see if it might be responsible for other hereditary cancers. Most of those diagnosed with colon cancer, like Baltimore Orioles outfielder Eric Davis, aren't Ashkenazi Jews, and have no family history of it.