PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Family members of children with cancer may also be at risk

Study recommends taking family medical history for all childhood cancer patients

2013-08-08
(Press-News.org) SALT LAKE CITY—When a child is diagnosed with cancer, one of the first questions the parents ask is "Will my other children get cancer?" A new study from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah suggests the answer to that question depends on whether a family history of cancer exists. The research results were published online in the International Journal of Cancer and will appear in the November 15 print issue.

The study, led by Joshua Schiffman, M.D., medical director of HCI's High Risk Pediatric Cancer Clinic and a pediatric hematologist/oncologist in in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Utah, examined the family medical history of 4,482 children diagnosed with cancer over a 43-year period to determine the cancer risk in their relatives.

The research team found that when children were diagnosed with any kind of cancer at age 18 or younger, the risk to their parents, siblings, or children for childhood cancer doubled compared to families with no childhood cancer patients. If the cancer diagnosis came when the child was age 4 or less, the risk to close relatives for childhood cancer increased almost four times.

"No one had previously studied the question, so we simply told parents there was no evidence of increased risk to the other children," said Schiffman. "Now we can give an evidence-based answer—the risk depends on your family history of cancer."

This is the first study that uses the Utah Population Database (UPDB) to broadly examine the risk of all types of cancer in relatives of children with cancer. This unique resource at the University of Utah links genealogies and cancer registry data from Utah to medical records and vital records, including Utah death certificates.

"Because our data came from the UPDB, the assessment of family history in our study does not rely on self- or family-reported medical history," said lead author Karen Curtin, Ph.D., a genetic epidemiologist and UPDB assistant director. "Self-reporting of family medical history depends on an individual's memory, while our data comes from the statewide Utah Cancer Registry that records nearly all cancer cases, which reduces possible errors in reporting family cancers."

The team also assessed known inherited genetic syndromes in adult relatives of pediatric cancer patients. They found cancers associated with Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS) seemed to be driving the increased risk to relatives in families with a history of cancer.

"Not all children's cancers are hereditary," said Schiffman. "But the numbers in this study suggest that the proportion of hereditary childhood cancers may be significantly higher than the 5-10% generally cited in adult hereditary cancers, and likely even more than 20%.

"LFS is one of the most devastating cancer syndromes," said Schiffman. "It causes a variety of cancers in both children and adults. For people with LFS, the lifetime risk of getting cancer is 80% to 90%, but with increased and early screening for tumors, there's early indication of a very high survival rate, perhaps even approaching100%. In a previous study, LFS patients who did not receive early screening only had a 20% survival rate."

Although childhood cancer rarely occurs in the population, based on their findings, the authors recommended collection of three generations of family medical history for all newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patients and referral of families with a history of early-onset cancers in children or adults for genetic counseling. In addition, parents of children diagnosed with cancer before age five with a family history of cancer should be advised of the potential for increased risk to other children in the family.

"We want to encourage the taking of a family history as part of routine care. With all cancers, but perhaps especially with childhood cancers, so many other questions seem so urgent, a family history may not seem to be the most pressing issue," said co-author Wendy Kohlmann, director of HCI's Genetic Counseling Program. "When families are referred into genetic counseling, we can provide them with more information about the risks and actions they can take."

"For families with previously unidentified LFS, following these recommendations could actually save the lives of multiple family members if at risk individuals are identified and early cancer surveillance programs implemented," Schiffman said.

The data analyzed in this study indicated that outcomes for pediatric cancer patients are worse in families with a history of cancer. Schiffman said that further studies are planned to learn the clinical implications of this observation.

INFORMATION:

Other co-authors of the article include Ken R. Smith, Ph.D., an HCI investigator, director of the UPDB and a professor in Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Utah; Alison Fraser; and Richard Pimentel, both of HCI's UPDB resource. The study was funded by an Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation Epidemiology Award, the Utah State Department of Health, Huntsman Cancer Foundation, the National Institutes of Health grant number P30 CA042014, and the National Cancer Institute's SEER program HHSN261201000026C.

The mission of Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at The University of Utah is to understand cancer from its beginnings, to use that knowledge in the creation and improvement of cancer treatments, to relieve the suffering of cancer patients, and to provide education about cancer risk, prevention, and care. HCI is a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, which means that it meets the highest national standards for world-class, state-of-the-art programs in multidisciplinary cancer research and receives support for its scientific endeavors. HCI is also a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of the world's leading cancer centers dedicated to improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cancer. For more information about HCI, please visit http://www.huntsmancancer.org.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Cell maturity pathway is deleted or weak in glioblastoma multiforme

2013-08-08
HOUSTON -- A program that pushes immature cells to grow up and fulfill their destiny as useful, dedicated cells is short-circuited in the most common and deadly form of brain tumor, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report this week in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Stuck in what amounts to cellular adolescence, these precursor cells accumulate, contributing to the variability among glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells that make it so difficult to treat, said first author Jian Hu, Ph.D., instructor ...

An extra hour of TV beyond recommendations diminishes toddlers' kindergarten chances

2013-08-08
Every hourly increase in daily television watching at 29 months of age is associated with diminished vocabulary and math skills, classroom engagement (which is largely determined by attention skills), victimization by classmates, and physical prowess at kindergarten, according to Professor Linda Pagani of the University of Montreal and the CHU Sainte-Justine children's hospital. "This is the first time ever that a stringently controlled associational birth cohort study has looked at and found a relationship between too much toddler screen time and kindergarten risks for ...

Neurocognitive testing more accurate than self-reporting of cheerleaders' concussion recovery

2013-08-08
Cincinnati, OH, August 8, 2013 -- Concussions have become a major public health issue, with both short- and long-term side effects. In sports, cheerleading has the highest rate of catastrophic injury, with some studies reporting approximately 6% of total injuries as concussions. Return-to-play guidelines have relied on athletes' self-reports; however, this has led to concerns about the ability of athletes to truly recognize their own symptoms and recovery. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers evaluate the accuracy of neurocognitive ...

New drug improves walking performance for Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients

2013-08-08
Results from a clinical trial of eteplirsen, a drug designed to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, suggest that the therapy allows participants to walk farther than people treated with placebo and dramatically increases production of a protein vital to muscle growth and health. The study, led by a team in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, is the first of its kind to show these results from an exon-skipping drug—a class of therapeutics that allows cells to skip over missing parts of the gene and produce protein naturally. "I've been doing this ...

Protein changes are discovered that control whether a gene functions

2013-08-07
A Penn State-led research team has found that changes to proteins called histones, which are associated with DNA, can control whether or not a gene is allowed to function. The changes may be important in maintaining the genes' "expression potential" so that future cells behave as their parent cells did. The discovery, which may have implications for the study of diseases such as cancer, will be published in a print edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research was led by Lu Bai, an assistant professor of biochemistry, molecular biology, ...

Women in urban areas show high rates of postpartum depression, study finds

2013-08-07
Women living in large urban areas are at a significantly higher risk of postpartum depression after five to 14 months of giving birth compared to those living in rural areas, according to a new Canadian study led by Women's College Hospital's Dr. Simone Vigod. The study, published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, strongly links geographic location and postpartum depression. The researchers suggest differences in risk factors, including place of birth, social support and history of depression, in combination with geography, may contribute to postpartum ...

Study questions nature's ability to 'self-correct' climate change

2013-08-07
Forests have a limited capacity to soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study from Northern Arizona University. The study, available online in the journal New Phytologist, aimed to explore how rising atmospheric carbon dioxide could alter the carbon and nitrogen content of ecosystems. By performing tests on subtropical woodland plots over an 11-year period, the researchers found that ecosystem carbon uptake was not significantly increased by the high CO2 treatment—in contrast to expectations. While plants did contain more carbon when CO2 levels were ...

New role for Tamoxifen in saving high-risk breast cancer patients

2013-08-07
The global study was led by University of Melbourne and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology today. The study involved about 2,500 women from Europe, North America and Australia who have inherited mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2, the breast cancer susceptibility genes, and who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. About one-third of these women were placed on tamoxifen. Tamoxifen has been used for decades to treat breast cancer and has recently been shown to prevent breast cancers in many women. Until now, there has been ...

Diets of pregnant women contain harmful, hidden toxins

2013-08-07
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Pregnant women regularly consume food and beverages containing toxins believed to pose potential risks to developing fetuses, according to researchers at the University of California in Riverside and San Diego, suggesting that health care providers must do more to counsel their patients about the dangers of hidden toxins in the food supply. In a peer-reviewed study published in the July issue of Nutrition Journal — "Consumption habits of pregnant women and implications for developmental biology: a survey of predominantly Hispanic women in California" ...

Sericin can alleviate diabetic hippocampal injury

2013-08-07
Preliminary studies by Dr. Zhihong Chen and colleagues from Chengde Medical College have shown that sericin might improve aberrant Akt signaling, decrease heme oxygenase-1 expression in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, and reduce the apoptosis of hippocampal neurons in diabetic rats, thus protecting the nervous system. Recently, it is reported that the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor 1 axis undergoes abnormal changes in diabetes mellitus, which aggravate the disease progression and trigger complications. To improve diabetes mellitus and its chronic complications, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Open-Source AI matches top proprietary model in solving tough medical cases

Good fences make good neighbors (with carnivores)

NRG Oncology trial supports radiotherapy alone following radical hysterectomy should remain the standard of care for early-stage, intermediate-risk cervical cancer

Introducing our new cohort of AGA Future Leaders

Sharks are dying at alarming rates, mostly due to fishing. Retention bans may help

Engineering excellence: Engineers with ONR ties elected to renowned scientific academy

New CRISPR-based diagnostic test detects pathogens in blood without amplification

Immunotherapy may boost KRAS-targeted therapy in pancreatic cancer

Growing solar: Optimizing agrivoltaic systems for crops and clean energy

Scientists discover how to reactivate cancer’s molecular “kill switch”

YouTube influencers: gaming’s best friend or worst enemy?

uOttawa scientists use light to unlock secret of atoms

NJIT mathematician to help map Earth's last frontier with Navy grant

NASA atmospheric wave-studying mission releases data from first 3,000 orbits

‘Microlightning’ in water droplets may have sparked life on Earth

Smoke from wildland-urban interface fires more deadly than remote wildfires

What’s your body really worth? New AI model reveals your true biological age from 5 drops of blood

Protein accidentally lassos itself, helping explain unusual refolding behavior

With bird flu in raw milk, many in U.S. still do not know risks of consuming it

University of Minnesota research team awarded $3.8 million grant to develop cell therapy to combat Alzheimer’s disease

UConn uncovers new clue on what is leading to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and ALS

Resuscitation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest – it’s how quickly it is done, rather than who does it

A closer look at biomolecular ‘silly putty’

Oxytocin system of breastfeeding affected in mothers with postnatal depression

Liquid metal-enabled synergetic cooling and charging: a leap forward for electric vehicles

Defensive firearm use is far less common than exposure to gun violence

Lifetime and past-year defensive gun use

Lifetime health effects and cost-effectiveness of tirzepatide and semaglutide in US adults

New members of the CDKL family of genes linked to neurodevelopmental disorders

Advancements in organ preservation: paving the way for better transplantation outcomes

[Press-News.org] Family members of children with cancer may also be at risk
Study recommends taking family medical history for all childhood cancer patients