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Cancer Resources > Cancer News > Cancer News from Reuters > Reuters Cancer News > 2009 > November

Elevated cancer risk seen in relatives of myeloma patients

Will Boggs, MD

Last Updated: 2009-11-04 16:07:48 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Blood relatives of multiple myeloma patients face an increased risk of multiple myeloma and other malignancies, say researchers from Sweden in the November 1st International Journal of Cancer.

"Although this study showed an increased risk of hematological malignancies such as multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), given the rarity of these diseases, the absolute risks are very low," Dr. Sigurdur Y. Kristinsson from Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, told Reuters Health. "Therefore there is no indication for screening at this time."

Dr. Kristinsson and colleagues evaluated familial aggregation patterns of hematologic malignancies, MGUS, and solid tumors among 37,838 first-degree blood relatives of 13,896 patients with multiple myeloma.

Compared with controls in the Swedish Multigenerational Registry, first-degree relatives of patients with multiple myeloma had a 2.1-fold increased risk of developing multiple myeloma, MGUS, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the authors report.

Relatives of multiple myeloma patients also faced a slightly increased risk of developing any solid tumor and bladder cancer, as well as a borderline increased risk of developing prostate cancer.

"Many patients that get diagnosed with cancer and relatives affected by the same malignancy ask about whether the prognosis is different," Dr. Kristinsson said. "We recently showed that familial lymphomas had similar prognosis compared to sporadic cases."

"Furthermore we have recently shown that myeloma patients are consistently preceded by a precursor state (MGUS)," Dr. Kristinsson added. "Thus all myeloma patients seem to have a preceding phase of MGUS. Interestingly when we assessed family members of myeloma patients we found both multiple myeloma and MGUS to be more common. These findings suggest that there is a genetic predisposition to the earlier stages of cancer (precursor conditions)."

Int J Cancer 2009;125:2147-2150.

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