A genetic study of Hodgkin's lymphoma: an estimate of heritability and anticipation based on the familial cancer database in Sweden

Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) is a heterogeneous hemopoietic malignancy Previous studies have implicated a genetic etiology responsible fur familial HL. We have estimated the heritability of HL and tested the hypothesis of genetic anticipation by using a high quality cancer database of the Swedish populat ion. Heritability was estimated by employing a threshold-liability model. T o test the hypothesis of anticipation, the usual T-test procedure was used to test whether there was a difference in cancer age-of-onset between paren ts and children who were affected with HL, A randomization test was carried out to test the validity of the P-values. Additional analyses were perform ed after stratifying the data based on birth cohorts. This data set reveale d that there was a difference between the age-of-onset of parents and of of f-spring who were affected with HL. We also estimated the heritability of H L in the Swedish population to be approximately 28.4%. Both findings provid e further evidence for a genetic basis for HL.