Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol
July 2025
Background & Aims: Lynch syndrome (LS) is the most common hereditary colorectal cancer (CRC) syndrome. The choice of extended or partial colectomy in patients with LS with primary CRC may influence the risk of metachronous CRC. This study aimed to identify factors associated with metachronous CRC risk and evaluate their potential implications for surgical decision-making.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLancet Reg Health Eur
September 2025
Genetic cancer predisposition is an important cause of cancer across all age groups. Approximately ten percent of cancer patients have an underlying cancer predisposition syndrome (CPS) and we estimate that 500,000 individuals with a CPS live in Germany. Gene panel germline or tumour-germline genetic testing is increasingly employed in cancer patients resulting in rising numbers of CPS diagnoses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLarge genomic rearrangements (LGRs) within the human genome are becoming more recognized by novel genome-wide technologies and may be underreported so far. This class of genomic variation includes copy number variations like duplications or triplications of coding or non-coding genomic regions. Here, we report two LGRs targeting BRCA1, a duplication of exons 18-19 and a triplication of exons 1-2 in two independent families.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne in twelve malignancies is diagnosed in a young adult between 20 and 39 years of age. One of the most relevant known causes of cancer in this age group, which is present in approximately 10% of cancer patients, is genetic cancer predisposition that originates from constitutional or postzygotic somatic (epi-)genetic variants leading to an increased cancer risk compared to the general population. The diagnosis of a cancer predisposition syndrome is important as it can affect cancer surveillance, prevention, and therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPaediatric blast-phase chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML-BP) is a rare and serious condition. Of 231 paediatric patients enrolled in the German CML-PAED-II registry between January 2007 and September 2023, 25 individuals (11%) were diagnosed with CML-BP. To identify genetic variants associated with early onset and disease transformation, we performed whole genome sequencing (WGS), deep targeted sequencing and cytogenetic analyses in 19 cases with de novo (n = 11) or secondary (n = 8) CML-BP and sufficient available biomaterial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGermline (likely-)pathogenic variants (PV) in CDH1 predispose carriers to hereditary diffuse gastric cancer and lobular breast cancer. Previous studies from the United States suggest CDH1 variant carriers have an increased risk for adenomas or sessile serrated lesions (SSL), yet data linking CDH1 PVs and colorectal neoplasia are scarce. We aimed to investigate colonoscopy findings in CDH1 PVs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLi-Fraumeni syndrome is a cancer predisposition syndrome caused by pathogenic TP53 germline variants; it is associated with a high lifelong cancer risk. We analyzed the German Li-Fraumeni syndrome registry, which contains data on 304 individuals. Cancer phenotypes were correlated with variants grouped according to their ability to transactivate target genes in a yeast assay using a traditional (nonfunctional, partially functional) and a novel (clusters A, B, and C) classification of variants into different groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFamilial Platelet Disorder with associated Myeloid Malignancy (FPDMM, FPD/AML, -FPD), caused by monoallelic deleterious germline variants, is characterized by bleeding diathesis and predisposition for hematologic malignancies, particularly myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Clinical data on FPDMM-associated AML (FPDMM-AML) are limited, complicating evidence-based clinical decision-making. Here, we present retrospective genetic and clinical data of the largest cohort of FPDMM patients reported to date.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Public Health
August 2024
Introduction: International guidelines recommend genetic testing for women with familial breast cancer at an expected prevalence of pathogenic germline variants (PVs) of at least 10%. In a study sample of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (GC-HBOC), we have previously shown that women with TNBC diagnosed before the age of 50 years but without a family history of breast or ovarian cancer (sTNBC) meet this criterion. The present study investigates the PV prevalence in and nine additional cancer predisposition genes in an extended sTNBC study sample including a cohort of women with a later age at sTNBC diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe vast majority of patients at risk of hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer (HBOC) syndrome remain without a molecular diagnosis after routine genetic testing. One type of genomic alteration that is commonly missed by diagnostic pipelines is mobile element insertions (MEIs). Here, we reanalyzed multigene panel data from suspected HBOC patients using the MEI detection tool .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Natl Cancer Inst
June 2023
The European Union-funded COST Action (LEukaemia GENe Discovery by data sharing, mining, and collaboration) LEGEND was an international and multidisciplinary collaboration between clinicians and researchers that covered a range of aspects of genetic predisposition in childhood leukemia. Within this framework, we explored the perception and handling of genetic predisposition in the daily practice of European treatment centers. Herein, we present the results of our questionnaire-based survey.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough hematologic malignancies (HM) are no longer considered exclusively sporadic, additional awareness of familial cases has yet to be created. Individuals carrying a (likely) pathogenic germline variant (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoft tissue sarcomas (STS) may arise as a consequence of germline variants in cancer predisposition genes (CPGs). We believe that elucidating germline sarcoma predisposition is critical for understanding disease biology and therapeutic requirements. Participation in surveillance programs may allow for early tumor detection, early initiation of therapy and, ultimately, better outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground & Aims: Constitutional mismatch repair deficiency (CMMRD) is a rare recessive childhood cancer predisposition syndrome caused by germline mismatch repair variants. Constitutional microsatellite instability (cMSI) is a CMMRD diagnostic hallmark and may associate with cancer risk. We quantified cMSI in a large CMMRD patient cohort to explore genotype-phenotype correlations using novel MSI markers selected for instability in blood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Natl Cancer Inst
February 2023
Radiologie (Heidelb)
December 2022
Background: Most malignant diseases develop sporadically. However, a significant proportion of cancers are based on genetic predispositions. In this case, cancer develops as a result of causal germline variants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Genetic predisposition is has been identified as a cause of cancer, yet little is known about the role of adult cancer predisposition syndromes in childhood cancer. We examined the extent to which heterozygous pathogenic germline variants in BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, ATM, CHEK2, MSH2, MSH6, MLH1, and PMS2 contribute to cancer risk in children and adolescents.
Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of 11 studies that incorporated comprehensive germline testing for children and adolescents with cancer.
Pathogenic loss-of-function germline variants cause autosomal dominantly-inherited familial platelet disorder with predisposition to hematologic malignancies (RUNX1-FPD). RUNX1-FPD is characterized by incomplete penetrance and a broad spectrum of clinical phenotypes, even within affected families. Heterozygous germline variants set the basis for leukemogenesis, but, on their own, they are not transformation-sufficient.
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