[Inheritance in neoplastic urogenital pathology].

In the course of the last decades, dramatic advances in the field of molecular biology have greatly increased our knowledges regarding the chromosomal aberrations associated with both hereditary and sporadic tumours. The development of new techniques (RELF, FISH, CGH, cDNA array analysis and functional oncogenetics, etc.) has provided powerful new tools for identification of onco- and oncosuppressor predisposing-genes. The most logical consequence of genetic research is the gene-therapy by directing treatment to the site of the chromosomal defect. The implementation of gene-directed technologies (gene-replacement or augmentation, antisense, interfering small -RNAs, etc.) into clinical practice stands as a model of translational research from laboratory to bedside. Prevention and therapy may be widely influenced by the experience of these techniques. On the other hand, some chemoprevention trials are carried out in subjects with hereditary risk for prostate cancer. The paper aims to outline the advances of genetics in urogenital hereditary tumours on the basis of a review of the literature in this field.