Understanding family history

Most cancers occur by chance when DNA changes cause our cells to divide and grow out of control. However, pancreatic cancer can sometimes run in families. Around 10% of all pancreatic cancer cases are hereditary.

Your risk of pancreatic cancer increases if you have two or more first-degree relatives (parent, sibling or child) who have had the disease, or a first-degree relative who developed the disease before they were 50 years old.

Worried about pancreatic cancer in your family?

Worried about pancreatic cancer in your family?

By answering a few quick questions about your family history, we can check your family risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

The table below shows pancreatic cancer risk based on family history.

Familial pancreatic cancer

Lifetime risk of pancreatic cancer by age 80

No relatives with pancreatic cancer

1.3%

One relative with pancreatic cancer

4%

Familial pancreatic cancer (two relatives)

8–12%

Familial pancreatic cancer (three relatives)

16–30%

Source: eviQ, Pancreatic cancer (increased risk) – risk management

Inherited gene changes

Sometimes a gene fault (called a “genetic mutation”), like those listed in the table below, is identified as the reason certain families are more prone to pancreatic cancer. If someone has one of these mutations, their close relatives (such as children or siblings) have a 50% (1 in 2) chance of inheriting the same faulty gene. 

The table below shows some of the inherited gene changes that are known to increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. If you have one of these gene changes, your children have a 50% (1 in 2) chance of inheriting the gene. Other close relatives, including your siblings, may also have inherited the gene.

Faulty gene

Associated condition

Lifetime risk of pancreatic cancer by age 80

STK11

Peutz‒Jeghers syndrome

11‒32%

PRSS1

Hereditary pancreatitis

20‒40% (higher in smokers)

CDKN2A

Familial melanoma

17%

BRCA2

Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer

3‒8%

PALB2

Hereditary breast cancer

Not known

MLH1/PMS2/MSH2/MSH

Lynch syndrome

3.6%

Source: APGI Pancreatic Cancer Factsheet

Having a family history of pancreatic cancer, or an inherited gene change, does not mean that you or your relatives will develop pancreatic cancer.

For more information about family history and genetic testing for pancreatic cancer, speak to your GP. It can help to write down everything you know about your family’s history of pancreatic cancer to aid in that discussion.

Your GP may organise a referral to a Family Cancer Clinic, where you can speak to a genetic counsellor about your risk.  

High-Risk screening program

Pankind refers people who have an inherited risk of pancreatic cancer to the APRISE program, a national screening study for people at high risk. Those accepted into the program will receive regular monitoring such as MRIs or endoscopic ultrasound. This program will evaluate the possibility of early detection and the effects of access to earlier intervention.

Pankind is proud to be investing $500,000 over 5 years in APRISE with the Jreissati Pancreatic Centre at Epworth, our largest single research investment to date

It’s the first of its kind in Australia and aims to build robust national data to support a long-term, government-backed screening program for those most at risk in Australia.