This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hemminki, K. Articles by Chen, B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Hemminki, K. Articles by Chen, B.

Familial Risks for Cervical Tumors in Full and Half Siblings: Etiologic Apportioning

¹ Division of Molecular Genetic Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany and ² Department of Biosciences at Novum, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Sweden

Requests for reprints: Kari Hemminki, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 580, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Phone: 49-6221-421805; Fax: 49-6221-421810. E-mail: k.hemminki{at}dkfz.de

Many studies have shown familial aggregation for cervical cancer, but they have been unable to distinguish between shared environmental and genetic effects. Full and half-siblings were identified from the nationwide Swedish Family-Cancer Database, including invasive and in situ cervical cancers in women up to age 70 years. Half-siblings were defined through a common father or mother. Standardized incidence ratios, adjusted for several variables, were calculated for proband-wise risks between full and half-siblings. The familial risk for full siblings was 1.84, compared with 1.40 for maternal and 1.27 for paternal half-siblings. These data were used to apportion familial risk for cervical tumors in full siblings into a heritable component, accounting for 64%, and an environmental component, accounting for 36% of the total risk. No evidence for gene-environment interactions was found. The intractable difficulty in separating cervical cancer causation will be an obstacle for a successful identification of susceptibility genes. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(7):1413-4)