Young adults with cancer should be evaluated for hereditary cancer predisposition

More than a quarter of young adult and adolescent patients with cancer present with malignancies suspicious of harboring pathogenic germline variants, according to a study.

In this retrospective single-center cohort study, 704 patients with cancer were included. The median age at the time of the cancer diagnosis was 32 years and median follow-up was 81 days. The majority of patients (81.7%) had solid tumors; the remaining patients (18.3%) had hematologic malignancies. In 5.1% of patients, multiple primary cancers were reported.

Potential malignancies that could be markers of inherited cancer predisposition were diagnosed in 2.6% of patients with cancers of the endocrine system, in 73% of cancers of the gastrointestinal system, in 88% of tumors of the central nervous system, in 92% of cancers of the urinary tract, and in 59% of head and neck tumors.

Genetic counseling was needed in all patients with breast cancer, sarcoma, and peripheral nerve sheath tumor.

Reference
Jordan F, Huber S, Sommer S, et al. A retrospective 5-year single center study highlighting the risk of cancer predisposition in adolescents and young adults. Cancers (Basel). 2021;13(12):3033. doi: 10.3390/cancers13123033. PMID: 34204522; PMCID: PMC8234548.