Utah Brain Tumor registry
Meeting: 2004 ASCO Annual Meeting
Abstract No: 1526
Author(s): D. S. Keith, D. T. Blumenthal, L. A. Cannon-Albright; Dept of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; University of Utah, Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Oncology, Salt Lake City, UT; University of Utah, Department of Medical Informatics, Salt Lake City, UT
Abstract:
Background: The UPDB is a unique database linking 2.5 million Utah individuals with genealogical data to 80,000 Utah SEER cancer registry records since 1973. The familial nature of cancer has been well studied using this resource. Here we use similar techniques to investigate 1550 individuals diagnosed with brain tumors.
Methods: We estimated the relative risk of brain cancer in relatives of brain cancer cases using internal age- and sex-specific rates of brain cancer estimated from UPDB. We estimated the average relatedness of brain cancer cases (compared to the average relatedness for 1000 matched control groups) using the Genealogical Index of Familiality measure, which extends beyond first degree relatives and looks at all pair wise relationships between cases. We considered all 1550 brain cancers as a group, the subgroup of 364 astrocytomas and the subgroup of 571 glioblastomas.
Results: The relative risk for brain cancer in 1st degree relatives of all brain cancer cases is 2.78 (p=5.1xe-7). The average relatedness of all brain cancers was significantly higher than expected in controls (p=0.03). The relative risk for brain cancer in 1st degree relatives of cases with astrocytoma was 3.03. The astrocytoma subgroup also showed significantly higher average relatedness than controls (p=0.002). The relative risk of all brain cancers in the first-degree relatives of glioblastoma cases was 2.60 (p=2.0xe-3). The glioblastoma subgroup of cases did not show significantly higher average relatedness than expected in controls (p=0.68).
Conclusions: The UPDB resource provides strong evidence for a familial component in brain cancer that seems to extend beyond first-degree relatives. The subgroup of astrocytoma showed more evidence for underlying genetic component than the glioblastoma subgroup. Study of high-risk pedigrees could allow increased understanding of brain cancer predisposition genes.
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