Genetic factors in childhood cancer. Associations between tumors in childhood and adulthood, and prevalence of germline TP53 mutations
type: CreativeWork
description: The etiology of childhood cancer is largely unknown. Approximately 1-10% of all childhood tumors are associated with known cancer predisposition syndromes. However, the contribution may be underestimated due to the failure to detect patients with genetic susceptibility for cancer when relying on known family pattern and anomalies. Growing evidence indicates that patients with genetic susceptibility to cancer may be at higher than normal risk for therapy related cancers. Increased knowledge regarding the importance of hereditary factors in the development of childhood tumors may improve the medical care of such patients by identifying those in need of more individualized treatment. In this thesis, genetic factors, familial cancers, and their associations with childhood cancer have been studied. The general aim was to investigate the importance of hereditary factors in the etiology of childhood cancer and to evaluate possible associations between childhood and adult cancers. In paper I, a national registry-based cohort of parous women with breast cancer was used to study whether the occurrence of childhood cancer in children affects the survival of mothers with breast cancer. Women who had a child with childhood cancer were found to have shorter survival compared to other parous patients with breast cancer, suggesting that hereditary factors may affect prognosis. In paper II, the occurrence of childhood cancer in families with hereditary adult cancer syndromes was investigated. Families with BRCA2-associated hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, mismatch repair gene-associated hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer and CDKN2A-associated malignant melanoma were found to have a higher occurrence of childhood cancer compared to the general population. No increased occurrence of childhood cancer was found in families with BRCA1-associated breast and ovarian cancers. In paper III, the incidence of childhood and adult cancer was evaluated in the extended families of pat…
abstract: The etiology of childhood cancer is largely unknown. Approximately 1-10% of all childhood tumors are associated with known cancer predisposition syndromes. However, the contribution may be underestimated due to the failure to detect patients with genetic susceptibility for cancer when relying on known family pattern and anomalies. Growing evidence indicates that patients with genetic susceptibility to cancer may be at higher than normal risk for therapy related cancers. Increased knowledge regarding the importance of hereditary factors in the development of childhood tumors may improve the medical care of such patients by identifying those in need of more individualized treatment. In this thesis, genetic factors, familial cancers, and their associations with childhood cancer have been studied. The general aim was to investigate the importance of hereditary factors in the etiology of childhood cancer and to evaluate possible associations between childhood and adult cancers. In paper I, a national registry-based cohort of parous women with breast cancer was used to study whether the occurrence of childhood cancer in children affects the survival of mothers with breast cancer. Women who had a child with childhood cancer were found to have shorter survival compared to other parous patients with breast cancer, suggesting that hereditary factors may affect prognosis. In paper II, the occurrence of childhood cancer in families with hereditary adult cancer syndromes was investigated. Families with BRCA2-associated hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, mismatch repair gene-associated hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer and CDKN2A-associated malignant melanoma were found to have a higher occurrence of childhood cancer compared to the general population. No increased occurrence of childhood cancer was found in families with BRCA1-associated breast and ovarian cancers. In paper III, the incidence of childhood and adult cancer was evaluated in the extended families of pat…
author: Magnusson, Susanne
language: eng
keywords: Cancer and Oncology, Childhood cancer, hereditary factors, breast cancer, survival, hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer, familial malignant melanoma, BRCA1, BRCA2, mismatch repair, CDKN2A, familial risk, multiple childhood tumors, Li-Fraumeni syndrome, TP53, adrenocortical carcinoma, choroid plexus tumors, rhabdomyosarcoma
date published: 2012
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:59:49Z
provider: University of Lund
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Oncology, Clinical Sciences, Lund University