RECENT STUDY INDICATES A FAMILIAL PREDISPOSITION FOR MPN

A recent analysis of the Swedish Cancer Family Database, which includes 95,000 first degree relatives of 35,000 cancer patients and has been collected since 1958 has found there is a familial predisposition for certain blood cancers, including myeloproliferative neoplasms.

The article states “The research shows that risk of myeloid cancers is passed on through families,” the researchers wrote. “This risk is likely to be mostly down to inherited genetic traits passed on in DNA – but environmental factors shared in families could also play a role.”

The researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research in London and the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg found that first-degree relatives (parent, sibling, or child) of patients with myeloid malignancies had nearly twice the risk for the disease as opposed to individuals with no family history. They added, “These results could have potential implications for family members to undergo the appropriate surveillance for myeloid malignancies.”

Click here to read the full article in CURE magazine.