Familial risks in cervical cancer: Is there a hereditary component?

The Swedish Family-Cancer Database was used to analyze familial relationshi ps in mothers and daughters in invasive and in situ cervical cancers from y ears 1958-1994, including a total of 125,000 in situ and 14,000 invasive ca ncers. In situ cancers were diagnosed on average 10 years earlier than inva sive cancers. Familial relative risks (FRRs) were calculated separately for mothers and daughters, and were between 1.8 and 2.3 for the 2 forms. The r isks were only slightly modified by age of onset, except at higher ages whe re there was no familial risk; in mothers, the risks increased if more than one daughter was affected. Aggregation of in situ cases among sisters was observed in families. Heritability estimates were between 0.11 and 0.15 for in situ and 0.22 and 0.34 for invasive cervical cancer. A comparison of ca ncers in mothers and daughters showed an association between cervical cance r and many cancer types observed in immunosuppressed patients, suggesting a role for a mild form of immunosuppression, in addition to sexual behavior leading to human-papilloma-virus infections, in familial cervical cancer. ( C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.