Inherited Predisposition to Hematopoietic Malignancies: Advances Made in the Diagnosis and Management of Hereditary Hematopoietic Malignancies in the Era of Next-Generation Sequencing Technologies

Hereditary hematopoietic malignancy (HHM) syndromes are hereditary blood cancers, such as hereditary leukemia and hereditary myelodysplastic syndrome, that “run in families” and adhere to Mendelian inheritance patterns. Here, the authors discuss ongoing advances in the biological basis of HHMs and also review their contemporary approach to the care of patients who are at risk for developing HHMs (“unaffected carriers”) as well as those who have developed malignancies (“affected carriers”). They also review ongoing research efforts to shift the field of HHMs from a largely “discovery”-based field to one that increasingly focuses on the prevention and treatment of HHMs.