Three sisters in a family with seven children whose grandmother had an
ovarian embryonal carcinoma experienced development of malignant and
a malignant-like situation in childhood. Two were diagnosed as having
malignant germ cell tumors of the ovary, and the third was found to ha
ve Langerhans' histiocytosis. The two girls with germ cell tumor share
d an identical human leukocyte antigen, whereas the sister with histio
cytosis shared one identical haplotype with them. All three children h
ave been treated successfully with chemotherapy and are doing well off
of treatment.