 This is why chromosome studies are often performed on parents when a child is found to have an anomaly.If the parents do not possess the abnormality it was not initially inherited; however it may be transmitted to subsequent generations.Most cancers, if not all, could cause chromosome abnormalities, with either the formation of hybrid genes and fusion proteins, deregulation of genes and overexpression of proteins, or loss of tumor suppressor genes (see the "Mitelman Database"  and the Atlas of Genetics and Cytogenetics in Oncology and Haematology,).