Cancer is a complex disease driven by numerous factors: environment, lifestyle, and genetic make-up. In some cases, genetic variation shared within families is related to risk for disease. DCEG conducts research of cancer risk among families where disease occurs at a rate that exceeds that of the ‘general population’. These family studies help us to understand not only the genetic alternations related to familial cancers, but also to cancer in individuals of average risk. Selected studies include:
A study of familial and non-familial chordoma, a rare bone cancer
A natural history study on DICER1-related Pleuropulmonary Blastoma Cancer Predisposition Syndrome
A study of inherited bone marrow failure syndromes (IBMFS), a group of rare genetic blood disorders that include Fanconi Anemia, Dyskeratosis Congenita, Diamond-Blackfan Anemia, Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome, Severe Congenital Neutropenia, Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia, and Thrombocytopenia Absent Radii.
A study of a group of familial blood and lymph node cancers (also called "lymphoproliferative disorders"), including: chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, and multiple myeloma
A study of Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia, a rare type of tumor that belongs to a group called "lymphoproliferative disorders"
A study of families with multiple cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the most common leukemia in adults in the Western Hemisphere and one of a group called "lymphoproliferative disorders"
A study evaluating the role of testicular microlithiasis in familial testicular cancer
A clinical study and multi-institutional collaboration for research on Li-Fraumeni Syndrome
A search for new genes associated with melanoma susceptibility in melanoma-prone families
Multidisciplinary Etiologic Studies of Hereditary Breast/Ovarian Cancer - Overview
A national prospective study of women who are at increased risk of ovarian cancer