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A role for genetic factors in the etiology of lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma/Waldenström macroglobulinemia (LPL/WM) is implicated based on prior findings from multiply affected families and small case-control and cohort studies. We identified 2144 LPL/WM patients (1539 WM 72% and 605 LPL 28%) diagnosed in Sweden, 8279 population-based matched controls, and linkable first-degree relatives of patients (n = 6177) and controls (n = 24 609). Using a marginal survival model, we calculated relative risks and 95% confidence intervals as measures of familial aggregation. We found first-degree relatives of LPL/WM patients to have 20-fold (4.1-98.4), 3.0-fold (2.0-4.4), 3.4-fold (1.7-6.6), and 5.0-fold (1.3-18.9) increased risks of developing LPL/WM, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), respectively. However, there was no evidence of an increased risk of developing multiple myeloma or Hodgkin lymphoma. In analyses stratified by type of first-degree relative (parent, sibling, offspring), age at diagnosis of the probands (greater or less than 70 years), and sex of the first-degree relative, we did not observe the risk estimates to be significantly different compared with the overall analyses. Our findings of highly increased risks of developing LPL/WM, NHL, CLL, and MGUS support the operation of shared susceptibility genes that predispose to LPL/WM and other lymphoproliferative disorders.
Kristinsson et al. (Thu,) studied this question.