title: Familial risks for childhood acute lymphocytic leukaemia in Sweden and Finland: far exceeding the effects of known germline variants.
abstract: Despite recent successes in the identification of genetic susceptibility loci, no familial risk has been demonstrated for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). We identified 3994 childhood ALL cases from two cancer registries; family members were obtained from population registers. The standardized incidence ratio for familial risk in singleton siblings and twins was 3·2 (95% confidence interval 1·5-5·9) and 162·6 (70·2-320·4), respectively. The present data constitute the first demonstration of familial risk for singleton siblings; the high risk for twins is believed to result from shared prenatal blood circulation. The data suggest that currently unidentified genetic loci underlie these observed familial effects.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Genetic Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany. E.kharazmi@dkfz.de
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kharazmi
authors.forename: Miguel I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: da Silva Filho
authors.forename: Eero
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pukkala
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sundquist
authors.forename: Hauke
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thomsen
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hemminki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D018095:Germ-Line Mutation; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult