Systemic treatment for hereditary cancers: a 2012 update

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Breast cancer
Ovarian cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Colorectal cancer
Medullary thyroid cancer
Basal-cell nevus syndrome
Astrocytomas in tuberous sclerosis

Conclusions and perspectives
Recent studies have convincingly demonstrated that hereditary and sporadic tumors may indeed require distinct treatment approaches. Ongoing revolution in technologies of DNA analysis, particularly the invention of next-generation sequencing, allows to expect that
dozens of new familial cancer genes will be identified in the near future. Furthermore, dramatic increase of velocity and cost-efficiency of germ-line mutation testing provides the hope that virtually every cancer patient will soon be undergoing genetic examination right at
the time of tumor diagnosis [44]. Advances in the management of hereditary cancer syndromes may serve as an excellent example of the power of translational medicine.