Guido Fanconi (1892-1979): a jack of all trades

Abstract

In 1927 the Swiss paediatrician Guido Fanconi described a family in which three boys had physical birth defects and died of a condition that resembled pernicious anaemia. In the 1960, inspired by Fanconi's theoretical considerations, it was shown that the disorder is based on an underlying chromosomal instability and is associated with a predisposition to bone marrow failure and cancer. As the 80th anniversary of the first description of Fanconi anaemia approaches, we were motivated to pay tribute to Guido Fanconi as an outstanding figure in European medicine and to honour his contribution to cancer research.