Hem Marker: Genetic Indicators of Elevated Blood Cancer Risk

A hem marker (hematologic marker) refers to a genetic variant or biomarker associated with increased susceptibility to hematologic malignancies—leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma. Carriers have a higher relative risk, but penetrance is incomplete; most will not develop cancer.

Clinical Use

• Risk stratification for surveillance (e.g., CBC monitoring, earlier screening).
• Family counseling and cascade testing.
• Therapeutic decision-making (e.g., donor selection for transplant).

Examples

• TP53 (Li-Fraumeni syndrome)
• RUNX1 (familial platelet disorder with AML predisposition)
• CEBPA, GATA2, DDX41 (hereditary myeloid malignancies)