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Find the gene.
Understand the difference.

Search 1,510 genes by name, alias or related condition. Begin with CDH1, browse the hereditary cancer reading list, or explore the wider gene directory.

Search genes and related conditions

The numbered order is an editorial reading guide with CDH1 first. It does not rank cancer danger, mutation frequency, personal risk or which test you need.

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Start with the CDH1 visit guide

Read the explanation, prepare questions and print a genetics appointment checklist.

CDH1 guide in English · Guía de CDH1 en español

Have an exact variant from a report?

A gene can have many different variants. Look up the full gene and variant notation in NCBI ClinVar, then review the result with your genetics team. A missing or conflicting entry does not establish whether a variant is harmful.

Opens the external ClinVar database. Do not enter names, dates of birth or medical records. This site does not classify variants or accept report uploads.

How to use ClinVar responsibly

What a genetic result can mean

Inherited and tumor findings differ

Germline testing looks for inherited susceptibility. Somatic testing examines changes in a tumor and may help guide cancer treatment. A tumor finding may need separate testing before it can be called inherited.

A variant is not always harmful

Results may be pathogenic, likely pathogenic, uncertain, likely benign or benign. A variant of uncertain significance, or VUS, should not by itself drive preventive surgery or other changes in care. Family history still matters.

The exact result matters

Ask which variant was found, whether one or both gene copies are affected, whether the finding is inherited, and what evidence supports its classification. A gene name alone is not a diagnosis.

NCI guide to inherited cancer testing · NCI guide to tumor biomarker testing

The 40-gene reading list

These starting points concern specific disease-causing inherited variants. They do not describe every variant in each gene. Click a gene to read its overview and sources.

  1. CDH1 Diffuse gastric and lobular breast cancer
  2. BRCA1 Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer
  3. BRCA2 Breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancer
  4. PALB2 Breast, pancreatic and ovarian cancer
  5. MLH1 Lynch syndrome
  6. MSH2 Lynch syndrome
  7. MSH6 Lynch syndrome
  8. PMS2 Lynch syndrome
  9. EPCAM Lynch syndrome from certain EPCAM deletions
  10. APC Familial adenomatous polyposis
  11. MUTYH MUTYH-associated polyposis, usually with two pathogenic variants
  12. TP53 Li-Fraumeni syndrome
  13. PTEN PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome
  14. STK11 Peutz-Jeghers syndrome
  15. ATM Breast cancer susceptibility; two pathogenic variants can cause ataxia-telangiectasia
  16. CHEK2 Breast cancer susceptibility; variant-specific interpretation matters
  17. RAD51C Ovarian and breast cancer susceptibility
  18. RAD51D Ovarian and breast cancer susceptibility
  19. BRIP1 Ovarian cancer susceptibility
  20. CDKN2A Melanoma and pancreatic cancer susceptibility
  21. BAP1 BAP1 tumor predisposition syndrome
  22. VHL Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome
  23. RET Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2
  24. MEN1 Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1
  25. NF1 Neurofibromatosis type 1
  26. DICER1 DICER1 tumor predisposition
  27. FH Hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell cancer
  28. FLCN Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome
  29. SDHB Hereditary paraganglioma and pheochromocytoma
  30. SDHD Hereditary paraganglioma and pheochromocytoma
  31. CTNNA1 Hereditary diffuse gastric cancer
  32. POLE Polymerase proofreading-associated polyposis
  33. POLD1 Polymerase proofreading-associated polyposis
  34. NTHL1 NTHL1 tumor syndrome with two pathogenic variants
  35. SMAD4 Juvenile polyposis and hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia
  36. BMPR1A Juvenile polyposis
  37. HOXB13 Hereditary prostate cancer susceptibility
  38. RB1 Hereditary retinoblastoma
  39. TSC1 Tuberous sclerosis complex
  40. TSC2 Tuberous sclerosis complex