Familial Aggregation in Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Abstract

Background. Genetic predisposition to Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) can be directly evidenced through observing familial HL. The literature data available on the familial aggregation samples of HL are extremely limited. Aim. To systemize and assess observation data on familial aggregation in patients with classical HL based on the sequence of tumor development in blood relatives. Materials & Methods. Data on families with HL diagnosed more than in one member were gathered from 4700 HL patients, who received chemotherapy from 1970 to 2019 at the AF Tsyb Medical Radiological Research Centre. Results. Among the blood relatives 27 HL cases were identified, which amounted to 0.57 % of the total of 4700 patients. The families were arranged into four groups: group I with HL diagnosis in a child born before HL detection and treatment of a parent (15 families); group II with HL diagnosis in a child born after HL treatment of a parent (4 families); group III with HL diagnosis in several children of a family with lymphoma-free parents (6 families); group IV - other categories (2 families). The total number of HL patients was 54. Group I comprised 30 patients (15 children and 15 parents), group II included 8 parents (4 daughters and 4 mothers), group III consisted of 12 patients, and group IV included 4 patients. Conclusion. The proportion of patients with familial aggregation of HL was 0.57 %. The age of all 54 HL patients enrolled in the study corresponded to the first age peak of HL onset. In the pairs “parent-child” children born before HL treatment of a parent accounted for 78.9 % and children born after HL treatment of a mother accounted for 21.1 % (all of them were girls). There were no HL cases in children born after HL treatment of a father. The data obtained show no effect of a parent's chemotherapy on the occurrence of HL in a child. This is confirmed by the HL cases of siblings whose parents never received HL treatment as well as by the diagnosis of this malignant tumor first in a grandson and then in his grandmother.