Eventos

Speaker: Isidro Sanchez-Garcia, MD & PhD – Experimental Therapeutics and Translational Oncology Program, Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular del Cáncer – CSIC/ Universidad de Salamanca. Spain.

Abstract:

In recent years, the application of comprehensive genomic approaches has revealed a plethora of germline and somatic genetic variants that increase cancer risk significantly for both hematopoietic and solid malignancies. In contrast to the long-standing view that germline predisposition affects young people preferentially and biases to the development of solid tumors, recent data from the study of hematopoietic malignancies indicate that germline risk exists throughout the entire age range of life and the pathways involved overlap with those that drive solid tumors. Mutations driving cancer in adults can be inherited or even occur at the time of fertilization as de novo mutations, and thus, can be established in utero, and not later in life. Moreover, the acquisition of somatic mutations in hematopoietic tissues, now referred to as clonal hematopoiesis, itself provides independent risk for the subsequent development of both hematopoietic as well as solid tumors, with inflammatory signaling likely to be of critical importance. Thus, we are developing a much more cohesive view of cancer risk with paradigms that are unifying across age and tumor spectra. The amassing information is providing unique insights into the etiology of tumor formation and informing approaches to clinical care. Accordingly, the field of genetic predisposition to cancer is advancing rapidly and affecting therapeutic decision-making and prophylactic measures for affected patients, children, and other close relatives. Here, I will provide insights into how genetic and environmental factors interact to influence predisposition to acute leukemia in children versus adults and discuss how this knowledge can impact prevention strategies.