High occurrence of primary malignant neoplasms in patients with adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma, their siblings, and their mothers

BACKGROUND: Attempts were made to clarify the correlation between human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV)-1 infection and malignant oncogenicity other than adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) in a case-control study. METHODS: The occurrence of primary malignant neoplasms (MN) in 110 ATL patients, their parents, and 430 siblings was compared with HTLV-1 seronegative non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients, their parents and 867 siblings. The chi-square test, odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to determine the statistical significance of differences in the occurrence of the primary MN among ATL patients, HTLV-1 seronegative NHL patients, their siblings, and their parents. RESULTS: The occurrence of primary MN in the ATL patients was higher than the occurrence in HTLV-1 seronegative NHL patients (P = 0.0036; OR = 2.91; 95% CI: 1.42, 6.02). In siblings of the ATL patients, there was a higher occurrence of primary MN than in siblings of the HTLV-1 seronegative NHL patients (P < 0.0001; OR = 3.35; 95% CI: 2.01, 5.58). In mothers of the ATL patients, there was a higher occurrence of primary MN than in mothers of the HTLV-1 seronegative NHL patients (P = 0.0063; OR = 2.55; 95% CI: 1.30, 5.00), but not in fathers (P = 0.1602; OR = 1.68; 95% CI: 0.81, 3.47). CONCLUSIONS: There is an increased risk of primary MN in ATL patients, their siblings, and their mothers.