Leader of SU2C Dream Team shows progress in pediatric cancer - Stand Up To Cancer

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Leader of SU2C Dream Team shows progress in pediatric cancer

Dr. John Maris, leader of the SU2C-St. Baldrick’s Pediatric Dream Team authored an editorial published on line Wed, November 18 in the New England Journal of Medicine in conjunction with research findings that hereditary genetic mutations account for 8.5% of childhood malignancies, a higher amount than. Yet they found a family history of cancer in only 40% of children with such mutations. These findings will likely influence new strategies for treating and tracking cancer in children and their families and may likely persuade oncologists and affected families that every child diagnosed with cancer have both normal and tumor tissue sequenced to identify any mutations in genes associated with cancer risk. According to Dr. Maris, “For years we were trained that the family history is the major clue to whether or not a genetic cause should be sought. This paper shows quite definitively that at best it’s an unreliable guide.

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