PARENTAL CANCER AND GENETIC PREDISPOSITION IN MALIGNANT PLEURAL MESOTHELIOMA - A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Familial clustering of pleural mesothelioma (PM) has been previously r eported suggesting that genetic factors (predisposition) may be involv ed in PM. We studied parental cancer history in a cohort of 39 cases o f PM and 259 age matched controls to assess the possible influence of family history on PM risk. Cases consisted of 39 patients with PM trea ted at our institution between 1978 and 1993, An age frequency matched control group (by 5-year age groups) consisted of 259 subjects who we re spouses or friends of patients undergoing resection of primary lung cancer. Data were obtained by interview of controls and interview of the patient or next of kin (usually spouse) for cases. The following d ata were obtained using a standard questionnaire and medical record re view; age, sex, date of diagnosis, history of asbestos exposure, smoki ng history, method of diagnosis, histologic subtype, type of treatment , parental cancer history and tumor type. Cases and control frequency of parental cancer and site specific tumor frequency were compared usi ng chi-square analysis. Twenty-eight (71%) cases reported a parental h istory of cancer versus 114 (44%) in the control group (P < 0.01). Gas trointestinal malignancies were the predominant tumor type among paren ts of cases, i.e. 11 cases (40%) versus 25% of controls (P < 0.01). No other tumor site showed an increased frequency among cases. These dat a suggest a possible role for family history in the development of PM. Genetic predisposition may be important in the etiology of this tumor .