Blog

European guidelines from the EHTG and ESCP for Lynch syndrome: an updated third edition of the Mallorca guidelines based on gene and gender(2021)

The recommendations from the EHTG and ESCP for identification of patients with Lynch syndrome, colorectal surveillance, surgical management of colorectal cancer, lifestyle and chemoprevention in Lynch syndrome that reached a consensus (at least 80 per cent) are presented.

https://academic.oup.com/bjs/article/108/5/484/6287132?login=false

Eat Your Veggies: Diet Plays a Role in Cancer Occurrence and Outcomes

While there is no diet or workout plan that can cure or prevent cancer, research has shown that a change in eating habits could improve outcomes…. 

https://www.curetoday.com/view/eat-your-veggies-diet-plays-a-role-in-cancer-occurrence-and-outcomes

Lynch Syndrome for the Gynaecologist

Cumulative Lifetime risks of cancer in Lynch Syndrome

Endometrial: Up to 57%

Ovarian: Up to 17%

The most common hereditary form of hereditary colorectal cancer

 Identifying patients with Lynch syndrome is clinically important because these patients have up to 80 percent lifetime risk of colorectal cancer and up to 60 percent lifetime risk of endometrial cancer.

These patients also have an increased risk for other primary cancers including gastric, ovarian, small bowel, urothelial (ureter, renal pelvis), biliary tract, pancreatic, brain (glioblastoma), sebaceous gland adenomas, and keratoacanthomas.

Individuals found to have a deleterious Lynch syndrome mutation are at increased cancer risk with the greatest risk of colorectal and endometrial cancers, followed by gastric and ovarian cancers. Fortunately, there are risk management guidelines for carriers of Lynch syndrome which are associated with a decrease in cancer-related deaths. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK431096/#:~:text=Identifying%20patients%20with%20Lynch%20syndrome,lifetime%20risk%20of%20endometrial%20cancer

Director of the Lynch Syndrome Center Shares his Personal Connection to Lynch Syndrome

People with Lynch syndrome are often tested and diagnosed because they have been diagnosed with cancer or they have a family history of cancer, ultimately triggering a recommendation for genetic testing.

Eight of the 13 in his grandfather’s generation ultimately developed some form of cancer, and it wasn’t until later that Matt Yurgelun would understand why: Lynch syndrome, which increases one’s risk for a variety of cancers, runs in the family.

‘The immune systems of patients with Lynch syndrome who haven’t had cancer sometimes exhibit responses to that MSI. This suggests that these patients’ immune systems are reacting to pre-cancerous formations in the body. This discovery has spurred cancer vaccine research for people with Lynch syndrome to prevent possible cancers that might develop because of it.’

Examining the interrelationships between mindfulness-based interventions, depression, inflammation, and cancer survival

Depression is highly prevalent in those diagnosed with cancer and is also associated with poorer prognostic outcomes. Mindfulness-based interventions are effective in reducing depressive symptoms and improving quality of life in patients with cancer. The objective of this review was to investigate whether mindfulness practices can improve survival and, if so, what mechanisms of action may contribute to these outcomes.

https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3322/caac.21733

Cancer risks by gene, age, and gender in 6350 carriers of pathogenic mismatch repair variants: findings from the Prospective Lynch Syndrome Database

Management guidelines for Lynch syndrome may require revision in light of these different gene and gender-specific risks and the good prognosis for the most commonly associated cancers.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41436-019-0596-9

FIT for Lynch Study – New diagnostic techniques for bowel cancer detection and prevention

The St Mark’s Lynch Syndrome Clinic is undertaking a range of projects which are being supported by 40tude Curing Colon Cancer. One of the projects aims to develop more tests which facilitate the prevention and early diagnosis of cancer in people with Lynch Syndrome (LS).

Dr Kevin Monahan, a consultant gastroenterologist at St Mark’s, says, ‘‘We’re working closely with people with LS to design national health services – our work can’t be achieved without them. The FIT for Lynch Study is the first longitudinal study of its kind which will assess the potential role of faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) as a means of bowel cancer surveillance in people with LS. 

Diagnosis and management of Lynch syndrome

Recently, an appreciation of the mechanism of carcinogenesis in LS-associated cancers has contributed to the development of novel therapeutic and diagnostic approaches, with a gene-specific approach to disease management, with potential cancer-preventing vaccines in development. An adaptive approach to surgical or oncological management of LS-related cancers may be considered, including an important role for novel checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy in locally advanced or metastatic disease. Therefore, a personalised approach to lifelong gene-specific management for people with LS provides many opportunities for cancer prevention and treatment which we outline in this review.

https://fg.bmj.com/content/early/2022/06/01/flgastro-2022-102123